Brigadier General Patrick Ryder
Department of Defense Press Secretary
Patrick S. Ryder received an undergraduate degree in advertising from the University of Florida at Gainesville, where he was a member of the Air Force ROTC program, through which he was commissioned. He also holds an M.A. in public administration from Bowie State University in Maryland. He has availed himself of other education opportunities through the Air Force including a language area studies and immersion program in German from the University of Salzburg, Austria.
He has served as a public affairs officer for several Air Force wings, including postings in Turkey and the United Kingdom. He has served in public affairs offices for the Air Force in the Pentagon and in Germany. He was director of public affairs at the Office of Defense Representative-Pakistan in Islamabad.
He returned to the Pentagon, holding several positions including Director of Public Affairs, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force.
Since August 2022, Ryder has been Press Secretary at the Department of Defense.
In the News…
Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said during a briefing that an additional 900 U.S. troops are heading to the Middle East, or may have already arrived there, to bolster air defenses in the protection of American personnel following a surge in attacks against American troops in the region by Iran-affiliated groups.
General Ryder said in the weeks since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, U.S. troops have been attacked 12 times in Iraq and four times in Syria. Even on the day he gave the briefing, U.S. forces were targeted in Iraq—but the attack failed.
