Paul E. Vallely (born November 29, 1939) is a retired U.S. Army major general and senior military analyst for Fox News.
Vallely served in the Vietnam War and retired in 1991 as deputy commanding general, United States Army Pacific. In 2004, together with retired Air Force lieutenant general Thomas McInerney, he co-authored the book Endgame: The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror. He has served as military committee chairman for the Center for Security Policy.
Personal life
Vallely was born in DuBois, Pennsylvania, on November 29, 1939. He is married to former Marian Hatch. He moved with his wife from Washington, D.C. to Bigfork, Montana in 2003. Their son, Private First Class Scott Paul Vallely, died on April 20, 2004, while in his fourth week of Special Forces Qualification Course Special Forces training.
Military service
Vallely graduated from West Point and was commissioned into the U.S. Army in 1961. He graduated from Infantry School, Ranger and Airborne Schools, Jumpmaster School, the Command and General Staff School, The Industrial College of the Armed Forces and the Army War College. His combat service in Vietnam included positions as infantry company commander, intelligence officer, operations officer, military adviser and aide-de-camp. He was later the commander of the 7th Psychological Operations Group around 1980, and of the 351st Civil Affairs Command from 1982 to 1986, which included all Special Forces, Psychological Warfare and Civil Military units in the Western United States and Hawaii. He retired in 1991 from his position in Hawaii as deputy commanding general, United States Army Pacific, at the rank of major general.
Activities and views
Vallely made his first appearance on Fox News on the day after the September 11 attacks in 2001, and gained national prominence as Fox News' senior military analyst during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He worked as a Fox News analyst until 2007.
Stand Up America US
In 2005 Vallely founded a conservative political organization called Stand Up America US that promotes "First amendment rights, Second amendment rights, strong national defense, and secure borders, national sovereignty, support of the armed forces, individual liberties and personal responsibility, fiscally responsible, limited government." According to co-founder Thomas McInerney, its stated purpose is to "protect America and let people understand the danger of radical Islam and the seriousness of global jihad."
Vallely has been described as a part of the counter-jihad movement. In 2016, the organization published "A Counterjihad Security Architecture for America", a document edited by Clare M. Lopez, with Vallely stating that "Counterjihad security architecture and strategies are more necessary now than ever before".
Other organizations
Vallely has served as the military committee chairman for the Washington D.C.-based Center for Security Policy.
He has also lent his support to an organization called Veteran Defenders of America. In his letter of support he stated that "perhaps the greatest threat to our safety and liberty is the threat of radical Islam. This threat goes well beyond the threat of terrorism. Islamists, both inside and outside of America, are looking for any and every way to infiltrate and subvert our country through what is known as 'stealth jihad.' He encourages U.S. civilians (veterans) to be "eyes and ears of freedom, because we know freedom isn't free."
Vallely is also a supporter of the Jerusalem Summit and an advocate of the organization's proposal to transfer Palestinian people to surrounding Arab countries as a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Support of birther claims
In 2010 Vallely was one of three retired general officers who expressed support for U.S. Army Lt. Col. Terrance Lee Lakin in his refusal to deploy to Afghanistan based on Lakin's claim that President Barack Obama had no legitimacy as commander in chief. In an interview, Vallely stated, "I think many in the military—and many out of the military—question the natural-birth status of Barack Obama." Following Vallely's announcement, retired Army Maj. Gen. Jerry Curry and Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney also expressed public support for Lakin.
Vallely has also said that he "firmly believes Obama 'is a Muslim in nature'," and that "a 'civil uprising' was not 'out of the question' to stop Obama who was facilitating the rise of 'radical Islam, the caliphate, and Jihad – the slow infiltration and dismantling of our American institutions' either 'willfully, or due to sheer naiveté'."