Lt. Gen (Ret.) Charles Hooper is a senior counselor at The Cohen Group. Prior to joining The Cohen Group, he served as the Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). In this role, he led the agency responsible for the sale of all US weapons, military equipment, support services, and training packages to foreign governments, which included oversight of 20,000 people globally and over $50 billion in annual sales. As DSCA’s leader, Lieutenant General Hooper built strong relations with officials from allied nations around the world — not just defense officials, but with leaders from foreign ministries and finance ministries as well, among others.
Over the course of his distinguished 41-year military career, Lieutenant General Hooper has held senior level military-political positions around the world. Prior to his role at DSCA, Lieutenant General Hooper served as the Senior US Defense Official/US Defense Attaché and Chief of the Office of Military Cooperation at US Embassy Cairo. He has also served as the Director of Strategy, Plans, and Programs at US Africa Command and Deputy Director for Strategic Planning and Policy at US Indo-Pacific Command.
A native of Willingboro, New Jersey, Lieutenant General Hooper is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also a graduate of the US Army War College and the UK Ministry of Defense Chinese Language School, Hong Kong.
Lieutenant General Hooper serves on the Board of Directors of General Dynamics and UL Inc. and the Board of Trustees of The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and is affiliated with the National Bureau of Asian Research and the Council on Foreign Relations. He also previously served as board chair for Education Board Partners, national nonprofit that helps public charter schools and education organizations build diverse, effective governing boards, until it joined Bellwether in 2023.
