Profile: Julio Hang ’88, Argentina
April 2006
Julio Hang with wife Adriana.
“It is hard to describe the impact on my superiors in the military when they learned that I, a lieutenant colonel, had spoken with the chief of staff of the U.S. Army, the secretary of the army, Dr. Henry Kissinger, and other important personalities,” said Julio Hang, describing his return from EF’s 1988 Single Nation Program for Argentina. That report would shape his career because, recognizing that Hang had made valuable connections in the United States, his superiors thereafter regarded him as an expert on the American military.
When he joined the Single Nation Program, Hang held a joint appointment as aide-de-camp to the president and advisor to the army general staff. In the latter post his brief was the modernization of the army’s structure and its relationship with the ministry of defense. These were important issues because the army, its political powers sharply reduced after the advent of democratic government in 1983, needed to reshape its role in Argentine society. These critical responsibilities, and a previous military record that showed him to be a model of the “new” army officer, led to Hang’s selection for the Single Nation Program.
Hang’s fellowship inquiries introduced him to a system of military-civilian interactions that was very different from his Argentine experience. He learned how such institutions as the ROTC, the National Guard, and others familiarized civilians with the operation and needs of the armed forces, thus generating an informed support for the military among the general population. He was especially interested to discover that the top civilian officials at the Pentagon usually had some training or experience in defense issues, while in Argentina the civilian leaders faced their new responsibilities with no such background. This situation led Hang to investigate how strategic studies were researched and taught at universities, think-tanks, and military staff colleges. He returned to Argentina with a new understanding of how the military sector functions in a democracy.
Hang’s new career path was not immediately apparent. His first post-fellowship assignment was to command the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, and, in 1991, he appeared destined for a post in Ecuador. Then however, the Army chief of staff remembered the fellowship and sent him instead to the Interamerican Defense College in Washington. There he served as chief of the economic affairs department and, although not a member of the Argentine attaché office, he was often consulted on bilateral military relations.
“Joyous Years"
After a stint in Argentina as deputy chief of operations at the army general staff and a promotion to major general came Hang’s next and most important Washington assignment, one which he and his wife Adriana remember as “joyous years.” As military attaché at the Argentine Embassy Hang toured U.S. military bases and successfully negotiated agreements to renew Argentine defense material. He increased the number of Argentine military personnel taking courses in the U.S., accompanied U.S. flag officers on tours in Argentina, and prepared visits to the U.S. by Argentine military leaders.
After 1997 Hang’s Washington activities acquired a multilateral dimension when the secretary of the U.S. army appointed him dean of the Military Attaché Corps in Washington, a position normally offered to a European representative or, at least, someone from a NATO member country. Although his functions were mostly protocol, his mission was to be a bridge between the U.S. Army and the more than 100 military attaches. Also, he was the representative of the Argentine Armed Forces to the United Nations, making frequent visits to UN headquarters and negotiating Argentine deployments in peace-keeping operations and related issues.
Back in Argentina in 2000, as chief of the Presidential Household with the rank of secretary of state, Hang remained involved in Argentine-U.S. relations while also in charge of the security of the president and the logistics for all his activities, as well as military protocol and ceremonies and much, much else. Then came a promotion to lieutenant general and commander of the Third Army Corps, the largest in the army with responsibility for ten provinces. Here he maintained his contacts with the U.S. Army, expanding the exchanges of small units and CPX exercises.
Hang’s involvement with Argentine-U.S relations continued after he retired from active duty at the end of 2003, when the minister of defense appointed him advisor on international relations, with focus on the United States. This position entailed participation in policy-making as well as a series of visits to the U.S. for conferences and as consultant to ministry officials. He recalls accompanying the minister on his first visit to the Pentagon for a meeting with Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld. When Hang introduced himself as an Eisenhower Fellow and reminded Rumsfeld that, as then chairman of EF, he had addressed the Argentine Fellows at their opening seminar in Philadelphia, Rumsfeld “had very nice words about EF and its mission, and I think it helped to have a better climate during the meeting.”
During those years Hang was also a member of the administration of Universidad Argentine de la Empresas where he is presently director of the business school. At the beginning of 2006 he left the defense ministry to become director of the Institute of International Security and Strategic Affairs, one of the two institutes within the Argentine Council for International Relations, where he expects to maintain the relationships he has formed through the past years.
Looking back on his fellowship, Hang emphasizes the value of sharing the experience with the twelve other Argentines participating in the Single Nation Program, fellows who have gone on to achieve distinction in their various fields, including law, politics and government, banking, and education. Hang’s friendships with them, created during the fellowship and developed later, have provided him with a source of useful advice and perspectives from outside his own discipline. He now looks forward to making new friends when he and Adriana attend the Istanbul Conference in October.
Hang is convinced that by giving him expertise in U.S. defense matters, the fellowship has played a significant role in his career, enabling him to serve his army and strengthen the bonds between Argentina and the United States. He reports that each time he was introduced as an Eisenhower Fellow, a “special atmosphere was created that helped me do my job in a better way.”