Who is John Fenzel

John Fenzel is a senior Army Special Forces officer who has served on our nation's battlefields throughout Europe and the Middle East. He has served as a military assistant on the personal staff of the Secretary of Defense, as a Special Assistant to the Vice President, and as a White House Fellow during the Clinton and Bush administrations.

He commanded the Special Forces Training Battalion at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In the wake of the September 11th attacks, he served as Staff Director for Tom Ridge in the Homeland Security Council. He was the principal architect of The Homeland Security Advisory System, our nation's color-coded alert system.

In his 25 years of military service, John has served in numerous command and staff positions around the world. During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, he commanded a Special Forces "A-Team," training, equipping and advising a Kuwaiti Battalion and accompanying them during the liberation of Kuwait. He has commanded three Special Forces companies, leading the first Army deployments to Pakistan and the Baltic States. In Bosnia, he commanded the special operations teams in the U.S. and British sectors, working closely with the United Nations to secure the indictments and convictions of those responsible for war crimes in Srebrenica. He is the only active duty American military officer to testify at The Hague in support of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

John is a graduate of the Naval War College and the National War College. Born in Iowa and raised outside Chicago, John lives with his wife and three children at Fort Knox, Kentucky where he commands an Army brigade. The Lazarus Covenant is his first novel.

What is your email address?
John@JohnFenzel.com.

What is your political affiliation?
I am a registered Independent. To serve the leadership of both parties faithfully as an active duty military officer, I believe you have to be.

The characters in The Lazarus Covenant battle against some very tough moral and international threats, especially religious extremism and Weapons of Mass Destruction. Do you see a link between these threats?
It's a worst case scenario, but I do believe there is an intrinsic linkage between both threats--if you consider the crises, conflicts and wars we've been injected into recently, it's not difficult to conclude that religious extremism is a first cousin to political extremism. Given the irrational thought process required for any deliberate WMD attack to occur, extremist views and policies of state or nonstate actors are the first prerequisite--well before means and motive.

Historically, the "Balance of Terror" between The Soviet Union and the United States was regulated by a U.S. policy of Containment and by a presumption of rational decisionmaking. But how do you contain a zealot or a regime led by religious or political extremists armed with the means to execute a nuclear, biological or chemical attack? Our nation's Special Mission Units--Delta, SEAL Team 6, and others-exist precisely for that purpose... and we are indeed fortunate to have them!

Is it true that your first job in the Army was to defend against WMD attacks?
Yes. The first five years I served in the Army, I was a "Chemical Officer" stationed in Germany. In that role, I developed programs and means to defend our soldiers against nuclear, biological, and chemical attack on the battlefield. During those Cold War days I was also responsible for the authentication and release of nuclear weapons if the National Command Authority ordered it. I still vividly recall the 2 AM phone calls alerting us for the no-notice nuclear release authentication exercises! As soon as the Army gave me permission, I went through the Special Forces Selection and Qualification Course, and I've been a Special Forces Officer ever since. I look back on it all now and it's been a wonderful experience, and a great ride!

How does a Green Beret end up working in the White House?
I've been very fortunate. Looking back over the past two and a half decades, I've been able to serve our nation around the world during extraordinary times of peace and war. About ten years ago, prior to coming to the White House, it occurred to me that in my role as a Special Forces company commander, I was in the role of executing our nation's foreign policy. With every deployment I made abroad, I realized that I was missing something important. After my first deployment to Bosnia--after everything I'd seen there--I started searching for the connective tissue that makes national policies relevant to our foreign policy, and to our armed forces. Acquiring an intimate understanding of our government, I realized, can only be gained through active service at all levels, and it led me to the White House Fellowship program. It's a remarkable program available to Americans of all professions, and I found it interesting that as a young Army Lieutenant Colonel, Colin Powell had been a White House Fellow! I knew that it was a very competitive process, but I had nothing at all to lose by applying. If selected, it would allow me an opportunity to work in an arena where national policy and strategy intersect. That's precisely what happened. After an extensive selection process, I was notified that I was selected as a White House Fellow in the 2000-2001 Class. My first work placement was in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and then as administrations changed, I moved to the Vice President's Office. When the Fellowship year concluded, I stayed on as Governor Ridge's Staff Director.

Did you invent the color-coded alert system?
I didn't "invent" the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS), but I initiated the process and led the effort in developing it. I had a LOT of help from some extremely talented and dedicated people. In the wake of the September 11th attacks, I was serving as Governor Tom Ridge's Staff Director. The days after September 11, 2001 were hectic, and yet very, very productive. The pace of each day was fast and the hours were long. If you recall, the country was being inundated to threats at that time and we were reacting to them in the best way we knew how. FBI Director Mueller, Attorney General Ashcroft and Governor Ridge were being put into the rather unenviable position of alerting the country to those threats--without any real framework or frame of reference to convey the severity. The second time Governor Ridge went on national television to alert the public was in December 2001. I recall sitting on the sidelines of the White House Press Room watching the press conference. As usual, Governor Ridge did a remarkable job; and yet, as we were walking back to his office, I sensed his continued frustration that we still weren't operating with a real system. I assured him we would develop a good one. I was at my parents' home in Illinois over that Christmas and I recall sitting at their home computer generating ideas for a threat advisory system. When I returned to the White House, I brought them into a series of brainstorming sessions with my colleagues. Over the next several months, we all worked exhaustively to develop a comprehensive and informative system with input from all of the stakeholders: federal departments and agencies, the States, major cities, corporations, and the American People. Love it or hate it, my own belief is that when it's used properly, it's a great system to keep the American people informed of threats to our security. In recent years, the HSAS has come into its own, providing a common "national vocabulary" for terrorist threats that is easily understandable and eminently useful, but I believe there's still much more to do in the realm of public warning.

If you could say it all in just one sentence, what have the past two decades taught you about our military?
Now, more than ever, serving in our nation's military requires a deep understanding that our armed forces must be a part of society, rather than apart from it.

And in one sentence, what did serving in the White House teach you?
That one person can make a difference in our government!

Where do you get your ideas?
I often get my ideas from my own experiences, past and present, in the White House, in the Pentagon, in international crises spots, and then connecting the dots in an interesting way. Asking the question "What if?" is always a key consideration for any novelist, and I am no exception. What if the Vatican had its own elite commando force to protect itself, like other governments have? What if one of the great Western Christian religions was able to be hijacked by extremists? How could that happen?

Why did you become a writer?
I started writing nonfiction articles early on in my career in the Army. They were mostly professional articles that dealt with military strategy and international strategy. Writing novels isn't that much of a leap, when you consider that if it's done properly, it can reenact the same dynamics and facts and make them more easily understood, albeit in a fictional venue. I have always been an avid reader of authors like Alan Furst, Brian Moore and Graham Greene. You just don't get any better when it comes to international suspense than these great novelists! My belief is that the best fiction instructs as well as entertains.

Can you describe your writing day?
I wake up by 5:00 in the morning (sometimes earlier), work my way downstairs to brew a cup of coffee, climb back upstairs and write for a few hours until it's time to go to work. I try to get a few hours of exercise in during the day to clear my mind. Normally, I'll start writing again by 8 or 9 PM when I get back home.

How much research do you do?
The majority of the time I spend on a novel is spent on research. I believe research is crucial to establishing realism and plausibility in a novel. Interviews, visiting the setting locations, and identifying the best methods to weave story, plot, theme and characters are all part of that process. I've found, though, the best "research" is my own life experience: having gone to war, working in the White House, jumping out of airplanes with a full battle gear onto a darkened drop zone, pulling bodies out of mass graves, hammering out national policy, seeing the terrible aftermath of war, firing foreign weapons, traveling around the world, testifying at The Hague%u2026all of it provides a foundation for what I write and for the raw human emotions found in my writing. To the extent I can, my goal is to put you "there" with me. For what I haven't been exposed to, and for those issues I'm not an expert in, I talk exhaustively to friends (or strangers!) who are doctors, veterinarians, pilots, naval officers, policemen so that I can get it right. Plausibility and realism are critical to good suspense and drama. I enjoy learning about many topics, so I'll often pick a subject that I find intriguing but never have been exposed to. It all adds authenticity, and from my own experience as a frustrated reader of novels, I know my readers want to know the inside story%u2026what you won't read in the papers or see on television. My pledge is to offer you precisely that insider's view!

What are the next John Fenzel books?
I am now hard at work on a second novel tentatively entitled Truth of the Father. It is a psychological suspense novel. Storyline: A successful congressman puts his life on hold to investigate his family's distant past during World War II and the Cold War in the Baltic States...changing his li

We search for a destiny,
That has no face:
To live with joy,
To die with grace.
Should we fail,
Then we recall:
The destiny we chase.

We embark on a journey,
A destination without place.
We rise and fall;
Yet through it all,
our destiny we chase.

It is destiny we chase,
Its path unclear
often fading without a trace;
But it is in the journey
we find joy.
And in our failures
We discover grace.

--John Fenzel

Photo ("Bosnia-7am") by: Mira Rajkovic. 1st Place Winner, Black and White Spider Awards, 2004

A very personal note this 65th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor to announce the birth of our son, Luke Emerson Fenzel. He was born at 12:15pm at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on this day, December 7, 2006 (A Day of Infancy!). We couldn't be more thrilled to have him as the newest member of the Fenzel Clan (with all of its extensions!). We are very grateful to God, our family and friends who have given us so much support these past 9 months, and to the fabulous staff at the NNMC who paved the way for his arrival. We are truly fortunate and blessed.

And to you, Luke Emerson Fenzel--A Message to Guide You...

The Man You Will Become:
Welcome to this world.
May you be:
Compassionate to those who depend upon you;
Quietly relentless in the challenges that confront you,
Merciful to those who oppose you;
A faithful servant to the God who created you;
A protector to the nation that enabled you;
An example to those who will follow you.
A man who lives each of his days fully--
Guided by the wisdom of those who came before you,
Inspired, always, with the greatest joy life can give you.
Welcome, my Son.
I am proud to be your father. And extremely proud of the Man you will Become,
In Full.

Love,

Dad

A fleeting smile.
A brief moment
Of God-like innocence--
Captured in time, as I said good-bye.

An immaculate glow.
The glimmer of your eye
A sudden doorway to hope--
Released, as if in reply.

An evanescent grin.
An open window
Into your wondrous soul--
Now, finally, free to fly.

--John Fenzel

Father Abbot, Father Basil, Father Charles, families and friends and most of all, Cadets of Marmion Academy. Thank-you for inviting me here tonight to talk to you.

You know, I am humbled every time I see this great formation.

And I'm inspired. You symbolize the sum of many parts, and represent the many thousands of Cadets who have stood here before you in years and decades past.

All of us alumni-and there are a few here tonight from my Class of 1980. I'd ask them to stand-my good friends, Joe Roggi, Ed Hurst, Bill Stefanski-look to you as standard bearers for future generations of Marmion men and we're all very proud of you.

We all know that events like this don't just happen. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes-- that we never see and seldom consider. Lots of practice, lots of rehearsals. You're looking at a finished product.

And so, I'd like to thank the great non-commissioned officers who put this together and made it possible: MSG Collins, and SFC Dotson, and SGM Gissel. And finally to the fabulous Marmion-Rosary Jazz Band, Flannigan Rifles and the Cadet Marching Band. You look great and you sound great! And you have given great dignity to this occasion.

I wonder, if everyone can please give them a big hand?

More than fifty years ago, my father stood at the front of this formation as the Cadet Battalion Commander for his class. He, along with my mother, are here with us tonight, and they are my heroes. If I might, I'd like to recognize them also Mom and Dad? Could you please stand up so everyone can see you?

So, I'd like to talk to you tonight about heroes. I'd like to tell you what I've learned about them from being around them quite a bit, and knowing them well.

Eric Severeid once said, "Heroes are those who go first," and I think he's right.

In the wake of the attacks of September 11th, we have sought -- and found -- heroes who inspire us. They are all around us: they are the people who volunteered to defend Flight 93 over Pennsylvania, they are the people who came to the rescue of others in New York City and at the Pentagon, and they are the people who continue to defend us tonight in Afghanistan and around the world.

They are people like my friend Sergeant First Class Dan Petithory-my Company Communications Sergeant about seven years ago--who volunteered to go with me to Pakistan as we deployed there as America's first Army presence in 45 years.

He parachuted into the Indus River valley out of a C-130 Cargo Plane right behind me, in pitch darkness, with a 120 pound rucksack filled with satellite radios and ammunition. And through his extraordinary communications skills, he kept 200 American and Pakistani soldiers organized for two grueling days as we traversed the rough terrain on both sides of the Indus River toward a common objective.

At one point during that cold night, I can remember a distinct cracking sound behind me with six miles left to go. Under all the weight he was carrying, the ground had given way and he had fallen down a hidden ravine. He turned his ankle badly, and had torn some ligaments. His back was badly wrenched. He was in terrible pain.

I told him that we would wait until some medical help arrived to evacuate him, but he refused, and despite his injuries insisted we continue to move on, saying: "Sir, you gotta play hurt."

We shifted his load, and he was with me every step of the way, to the end of the line. I was worried about him, but he kept moving. And I never once heard him complain.

And so it strikes me that Heroes are selfless and they see a larger purpose for themselves and others. They hold themselves and those around them to a higher standard.

They are Quiet Professionals.

In the Himalayas, Dan was able to communicate with six American and Pakistani Special Forces teams-- all of them occupying 18,000 foot peaks not far from K2 and Everest. In three days, we had seven feet of snow dump on us, stranding everyone in pup tents-not daring to move for fear that they would trigger avalanches and be pulled down with them.

The weather worsened into sub-zero blizzard conditions-and we were all worried that the situation was becoming untenable. There was nothing we could do, except wait. We waited for four days. And the snow and winds continued.

Dan must have sensed everyone's growing concern though; and it struck me as odd because in our silence, the next thing I heard, was him making a net call over the radio to all of the teams, all six of them at once, and he was asking to speak to the "Donner Party."

Dan's dry, irreverent humor immediately raised everyone's morale and soon everyone was joking and laughing again.

So, another characteristic I've learned about Heroes is that they care about others and don't take themselves too seriously. They don't let anyone take themselves too seriously. They are team players and they are confidence builders.

When the radios stopped working one evening, I learned that Dan stayed up all night doing systems checks on all the radios to identify the problem. One wire, one circuit at a time. He disassembled and reassembled them. He was a perfectionist.

The next morning, after confessing to me that he had failed to reestablish radio communications, he was embarrassed when we took him outside to observe the real problem: that the satellite dishes and antennae were covered in three feet of new snow!

That next morning, I was approached by a Pakistani Brigadier General, who said "John! We want your Dan to stay with us he makes us laugh!"

And so you see, heroes are committed. They may be frustrated at times, and like all of us-- they have setbacks but they don't give up - and they never, EVER become discouraged.

On September 11th, Dan called his Company Commander in tears, wondering what was next for the country and for his Special Forces "A" Team. He volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan immediately, and was part of the team that jumped by parachute in the same region we had been seven years ago.

He had done all this before, but now the stakes were much higher. Our own country was threatened-and they were trying to kill us, in great numbers.

Dan knew the terrain. He had walked it before. He knew the people. He knew their language.

That night they walked for hours and finally rendezvoused with a rising Afghan Star named Hamed Karzai, who was destined to become Afghanistan's Prime Minister.

Dan helped organize Karzai's band of soldiers, helped to train them, and he went to war with them. He fought beside them and befriended them. He was-truly-a soldier-diplomat-- an ambassador for everything that you and I stand for.

Just before Christmas, you might remember, Dan and two other Special Forces Soldiers were killed in Afghanistan doing what they loved...For this country that they loved so dearly.

And so you see, the courage of real heroes is not a short and frenzied outburst of bravery like we often see in the movies. It is, in fact, the result of a rare and steady dedication of one's lifetime to something much larger than themselves. An internal fortitude that goes well beyond physical courage-that is transcended by moral courage.

Dan lived by the Green Beret's motto: "De Oppresso Liber" --To Free the Oppressed. He lived by that creed.

We owe Dan and everyone else who has died defending our country an enormous debt of gratitude. They knew the risks they faced. And all of us are more secure today because of their willingness to sacrifice themselves for a greater purpose:

So that we might remain free.

They recognized, like you in this formation tonight, that they are the sum of many parts.

Heroes understand that, and draw their inspiration from it-from one another. They dedicate themselves to the cause of service to others and are prepared to sacrifice themselves for it.

In the midst of all the noise and all the confusion, they understand what is really at stake. They focus on it. And they never lose sight of it.

And they draw on that strength of a lifetime to rise to the occasion, when it matters most.

And Dan Petithory. Dan Petithory is a hero of mine. Because of all that, and because he went first.

Thank-you.

One leaf falling,
From a soaring oak.
Once Separated, now drifting.
Horizontal,
on a wintry gust.

Fall's foliage rustling,
Across the frozen soil.
Once lost, still searching.
Vertical, certain.
The Old Norse Traust.

A year's promise passing,
In the emerald night.
Once fulfilled, yet fleeting.
Leaning anew,
toward Spring's oblique.

--John Fenzel