On November 13, 2019, Austrian Minister of Defense Thomas Starlinger presented the “Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold” for Services to the Republic of Austria to retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Keith W. Dayton, director of the Marshall Center.
General Dayton’s last assignment while on active duty, he served for more than 40 years, was as U.S. security coordinator to Israel and Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem.
Since 2011 General Dayton is the Director of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, an international security and defense studies institute based in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. He is responsible for orchestrating resident courses, outreach programs and an international and interagency network of about 14,000 government officials from 155 nations in fields of international security studies, defense and foreign affairs.
Austrian Defense Minister Thomas Starlinger presents the “Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold” to U.S. General Keith W. Dayton (c) Austrian Armed Forces Photograph/Corey T. Dennis"
General Dayton also serves as the chairman of The Partnership for Peace Consortium’s governing structure, the Senior Advisory Committee. He accepted the decoration during this year’s committee meeting in Vienna, in which he emphasized and acknowledged Austria’s role as a reliable cooperation partner in NATO’s “Partnership in Peace” program. General Dayton has been a strong promoter for organizing conferences and academic networking events in Austria, continuously making sure financial aid and support was provided.