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 that the United States is “fully committed to Ukraine’s defense“ after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov at the Pentagon.
General Ryder also spoke about a new aid package that the Defense Department plans to send Ukraine. “What we continue to see on the ground is it remains a tough fight,” General Ryder said. “Russia continues to attempt to take ground, and the Ukrainians have done a good job of holding the line.”
