ABOUT SARGIS

LTC Sargis Sangari USA (Ret.) is a 20 plus year veteran of the United States Army Infantry and Special Operational Forces with multiple combat deployments to Iraq, a diplomatic assignment in Kuwait, and several other deployments to the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Central America.

LTC Sangari is the CEO of the Near East Center for Strategic Engagement (NEC-SE), which he founded on September 11, 2014, in commemoration of the Americans who were murdered in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and in recognition of the first responders who continue to suffer and die from health effects arising from the attacks.

NEC-SE is an academic and operational policy studies/research institution and think tank that provides political/military analyses and assessments of Middle Eastern affairs for a diverse international clientele representing both government and private interests.

Additionally, NEC-SE served as the military advisory group for the Assyrian Army in Iraq, which fought in Iraq and Syria against ISIL and ISIS from 2014-2017. In that capacity, NEC-SE worked in collaboration with Assyrian Army military and civilian leaders and private military contractors to provide tactical, operational, and strategic planning, direction, training, and support for conducting combat and civil affairs operations in tandem with its military mission.

The NEC-SE team has briefed the Office of Secretary of Defense; authored Operation Collective Action (Northern Iraq Clearing Operation); operationally supported CENTCOM and USASOC units; advised the Near East Affairs Iraq and Syria desk at the U.S. State Department; and briefed the National Security Council key staffers on strategic plans for the Near East Region, Southeast Asia, and provided strategic guidance papers and reports to our global partners to include Japan (Five Eyes) the Japanese’s Public Security Intelligence Agency, and Australia (Core-plus member nation of the National Military Bureaus).

NEC-SE has also supported Ravens Challenge ASEAN since 2017. NEC-SE supports the goals for Ravens Challenge to build and shape Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), Counter Improvised Explosive Device (CIED), Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) and Counter-Terrorism Capacity Streams for local, national, and regional clients and to Provide Multi-National Dynamics EOD, CIED, CWMD, and Counter-Terrorism Training, collaboration, and information exchanges among military, police, academia, and private agencies and by bringing information from the Iraq and Syria battlefields to the participating commanders and technicians from Thailand and SE Asia at the Challenge. Sharing the knowledge and lessons learned from the impact of IED’s and other methods of communities in the Middle East has resonance and relevance and allows a more holistic approach to identifying and reduction of capability gaps in the broad spectrum of responses to terrorism and insurgencies that use asymmetric attacks against vulnerable populations.

In 2015 LTC Sangari also founded the United Assyrian Appeal, which is recognized by the IRS as a not-for-profit 501(C)(3) charitable organization, that provided aid to Christian families of soldiers who were battling ISIS and fighting to keep the root of Christianity alive in Iraq and Syria. One of the many International non-governmental organizations UAA teams up with is the ETANA Woman’s Organization. ETANA supports impoverished women and children in northern Iraq.

In 2018 Sargis was asked to join the Legion of Saint Michael Law Enforcement community and is currently the international representative for the first responders of the club’s main chapter. His support of the law enforcement community is integral to the ability of the NEC-SE to be a viable supporter of the first responders’ needs throughout the nation and represent it on the international levels. He is a liaison for the Saint Michael Law Enforcement Club to the international law forces.

In 2017-2018 LTC Sangari also ran as a Republican candidate for the 9th Congressional District of Illinois. He was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune and Daily Herald. The tribune stated: “…Sangari’s military background, including combat deployments, strengthens his breadth of expertise.” The Daily Herald wrote: “…we endorse Sangari because of the depth of his understanding of global affairs. While he might be more conservative than we’d normally endorse, his idealistic commitment to move beyond party politics to solve problems in a structural way are strongly appealing.”

LTC Sargis Sangari, participated in a panel discussion at the 3rd Annual Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Financial Institution and Law Enforcement Collaboration Forum hosted by the U.S. Capital Chapter of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) in McLean, VA. LTC Sangari’s specific panel discussion focused on establishing effective public/private partnerships, 314(a)/314(b) information sharing and best practices, and emerging trends in AML/CTF and Trans-National Organized Crime (TNOC). Currently, LTC Sangari is continuing to support local, regional, and international ACAMS events.

LTC Sangari writings and postings have been read and referenced in over 143 countries out of the 257 worldwide. They have been referenced in over 2.895,00 new media outlets, academic journals, and strategic think tanks. Sargis has been featured in many national and international publications and newspapers to include writing a number of feature articles for the Chicago Daily Herald reference what he coined as backyard wars and Chinas war against the United States.

Over the course of six years of continuous combat deployment, LTC Sangari conducted 144 combat patrols, 22 Special Forces missions, and two key direct-action operations. He conducted 670 key leader and tribal leader engagements in support of multiple counterinsurgency operations and wrote three major policy papers for the Special Operations Forces and the U.S. Marines on the subjects of federalism and governance and an executive summary on civil-military operations. These policies legitimized three newly elected city councils and two mayors in Al Anbar province countering enemy influence and indirectly allowing a new approach in support of the Sons of Iraq efforts in Iraq.

LTC Sangari has also conducted over 17,000 civil-military operations, foreign internal defense support operations, noncombat evacuations, and disaster relief, and emergency management missions. He conducted over 7,000 humanitarian missions throughout the Middle East to mitigate citywide emergencies covering provincial and regional shortfalls throughout in support of unconventional warfare, irregular warfare, and direct action, and contingency operations.

LTC Sangari planned resourced and executed the reception and integration of military personnel from the US Army, including North Atlantic Treaty Organization Executive Officers and well-known civilian inter-agency personnel from six different US Civilian agencies, thus creating the groundwork for a Coordinating Reconstruction and Development Activities Cell for operations in Afghanistan. The Specialty Skills Initiative (SSI) became a pilot and case study for how the army recruits, trains and conducts future civil-military operations in both accessible and remote areas of the world.

His final major projects before retiring from the army in 2013 entailed the analysis, design, and development of metrics and standards used to accredit the United States Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS) in both training and education, and to include assessments and accreditation of the training which affected all civil affairs, special forces, psychological operations, and other special units personnel totaling between 15-20 thousand persons. He applied his mastery of the latest doctrinal tenants in a thorough analysis of the final draft of the strategic manual on the Concept for the Shaping Warfighting Functions that improved the nesting of the new concepts into the extant Warfighting Functions and the U.S Army Special Operation Command Commanders 2022 vision which the Assyrian Army beta tested on the battlefields of Iraq and Syria.

Biographic

Lieutenant Colonel Sargis Sangari was born and raised in Rezaiyeh (Urmia), Iran. He immigrated to the United States in 1980 at age ten after the Iranian Revolution. LTC Sangari received a two-year Reserve Officer Training Corp Scholarship and began his Army service in 1994 after graduating from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, earning a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and receiving a commission in the Infantry.

After completing the Infantry Officer Basic Course, he was assigned to 1st Battalion, 506 Infantry Regiment (Air Assault), Camp Greaves and Camp Giant Korea, where he served as a two-time Rifle Platoon Leader. Upon his departure from Korea, LTC Sangari was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, Fort Lewis, Washington, serving as a Rifle Platoon Leader, Mortar Platoon Leader, Headquarters and Headquarters Company Executive Officer, Battalion Motor Officer, and Battalion S3 Air. LTC Sangari deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia in support of Operation Joint Endeavor as the principle staff advisor for Chief of Staff Military Operations for U.S. Forces and National Agencies force protection for Implementation Forces (IFOR) and Stabilization Forces (SFOR) and the theater safety officer for all of Theater SFOR.

After completing the Infantry Officer Advance Course, LTC Sangari was assigned to Basic Combat Training Brigade, Fort Benning, Georgia as Company Commander, Brigade S4, and Brigade Assistant-S3. LTC Sangari was later assigned to United States Army Recruiting Command as the Headquarters Headquarters Company Commander/Facility Manager, Special Projects Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), and Assistant Current Operations Officer.

Upon completion of the Civil Affairs and the Regional studies Courses, LTC Sangari was assigned as Civil Affairs Team-Alpha Team Leader with 96th Infantry Battalion. His team deployed to Iraq in support of the 1st and 5th Special Forces Groups in the Al Anbar Province. After the surge approval, his team stayed to support the Navy Tasking Unit.

Upon his team’s return, LTC Sangari attended and graduated from the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. After graduation, he deployed in support of the 10th Mountain Division (Light), Fort Drum, NY as the Deputy G9.

LTC Sangari’s follow on assignment was a family-sponsored diplomatic billet as the Director of Host Nation Affairs for Area Support Group-Kuwait. Upon his return, he was assigned to John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS) where he served as the Director for Basic Language Course, Quality Assurance Action Officer, and special project officer for Deputy Commanding General (DCG) USAJFKSWCS. He completed his 20 years six-month career as the Quality Assurance Officer for the Civil Affairs Directorate.

His awards and decorations include the Combat Action Badge, Expert Infantryman’s Badge, and Parachutist Badge. His foreign awards include the German Armed Forces Efficiency Badge in Gold and German Armed Forces Marksmanship Badge in Bronze. LTC Sangari language capabilities include Assyrian/Aramaic, Persian-Farsi, and Turkish-Azari.

LTC Sangari is a Nuclear Biological Chemical (NBC) Certified Officer, Certified Anti-Terrorism Level I & II Officer and earned his Executive Certificate in Counterterrorism and Technology from the International Institute for Counterterrorism (ICT), of The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel.

Sargis lives in Skokie, Illinois with his wife Helen, and four children: son, Ashur (16), daughter, Nineveh (14), daughter, Atalia (11), and son, Sargon (7).

Sargis is now seeking to serve our country in the political arena, as the Republican Candidate for the 9th Congressional District of Illinois.