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RADM Gene R. La Rocque

Gene R. La Rocque, a retired Navy rear admiral who irritated many former colleagues with his outspoken criticism of Pentagon practices, died 31 October 2016 at a hospital in Washington. He was 98.

Admiral La Rocque began his naval service in 1940 and was commissioned as Ensign early in 1941. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 he was serving on the USS MACDONOUGH there. Throughout the four years of World War II, Admiral La Rocque served aboard destroyers in the Pacific and participated in thirteen major naval battles for which he received several medals and citations.

During his 31 years of active duty, Admiral La Rocque spent sixteen years at sea in important staff positions and in command of a variety of warships and Task Forces in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean Areas. During his naval service ashore, Admiral La Rocque served in the Pentagon for seven years in strategic planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Chief of Naval Operations. He is a graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. His last active duty post was as Director of the Inter-American Defense College in Washington, DC.

His strategic planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Navy included plans for use of both conventional and nuclear weapons in limited and general nuclear war. For his work as a strategic planner in the Pentagon, he was award the Legion of Merit. He received honorary doctorate degrees from Hanyang University, Seoul Korea and Haverford College.

In 1972 Rear Admiral Gene R. La Rocque founded the Center for Defense Information as an independent monitor of the military. He served as the Director of the Center for Defense Information for 21 years.

He was the Executive Producer of CDI's very successful weekly television program, "America's Defense Monitor." Admiral La Rocque traveled to 105 countries including: Israel, Japan, North and South Korea, Sweden, the former Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, Hungary, the Netherlands, South Africa, Cuba, all of Central and South America, and other nations to analyze the military situation in the world. Admiral La Rocque wrote many magazine articles and edited the book Nuclear War in Europe and frequently contributed to the op-ed pages of newspapers throughout the US. He was a frequent guest on TV programs as a military analyst.

Founded in 1972 as an independent monitor of the military, the Center for Defense Information was a private, nongovernmental, research organization. Its directors and staff believed that strong social, economic, political, and military components and a healthy environment contribute equally to the nation's security. CDI sought realistic and cost effective military spending without excess expenditures for weapons and policies that increase the danger of war. CDI supports adequate defense by evaluating defense needs and how best to meet them without wasteful spending or compromising national security.

Funded exclusively by public donations and foundation support, CDI neither sought nor accepted government money or military industrial funding. CDI operated as one of the foremost research organization in the country analyzing military spending, policies, and weapons systems. Retired military officers and experienced civilians worked together to analyze military and security issues and inform the public with unbiased facts and valid alternatives. CDI's reputation as an authoritative and impartial monitor of the military fulfilled the public's increasing demand for information and independent ideas, free from the influence of the military-industrial-political establishment. Congress, the media, and the public accessed CDI's military analysis through publications, television and radio programs, and media support.

Most recently, veteran Capitol Hill staffer and GAO assistant director Winslow Wheeler has directed CDI’s Straus Military Reform Project, conducting research and providing analysis that speaks, even if occasionally disrespectfully, truth to power. In May 2012, the Project On Government Oversight was proud to welcome Winslow and the CDI legacy.