Joseph Francis Dunford Jr. (born 23 December 1955) is a retired United States Marine Corps general who served as the 19th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1 October 2015 to 30 September 2019.

Dunford is the first Marine Corps officer to serve in four different four-star positions; the others include commander of the International Security Assistance Force and United States Forces – Afghanistan from February 2013 to August 2014,[2] and as the thirty-second assistant commandant of the Marine Corps from 23 October 2010 to 15 December 2012.

[19] During his tenure, Dunford worked to keep sex-based job assignment policies in place to keep women out of ground combat arms military occupational specialties.

[20] On 3 December 2015, Dunford was overruled by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter who announced that beginning in January 2016, all military occupations and positions will be open to women, without exception.

[22] He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and took over from Army General Martin Dempsey on 25 September 2015, and officially took office on 1 October 2015.

[28] During an event in December 2018, Joseph Dunford criticized Google for its "inexplicable" continued investing in autocratic, communist-led China while simultaneously not renewing further research and development collaborations with the Pentagon.

"I'm not sure that people at Google will enjoy a world order that is informed by the norms and standards of Russia or China," Dunford said.

[29][30] Dunford stepped down as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 30 September 2019, declining interviews and praising his successor, General Mark A. Milley.

Simultaneously, he was appointed Deputy Commandant for Plans, Policies and Operations, skipping the rank of Major General.

[46] On 8 September 2016, Dunford received the Heroes Award from nonprofit organization Tuesday's Children at their annual Roots of Resilience Gala.

[47] On 23 July 2018, Dunford received the coveted "Dwight D. Eisenhower" award during a ceremony from the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars).

[50] He also received Canada's Meritorious Service Cross (MSC) in the Military Division that same year, and accepted the award at the Halifax International Security Forum.

In 2020 he was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the Military Division.

This article incorporates public domain material from Official Biography: Lieutenant General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., Deputy Commandant for Plans, Policies, and Operations.