Peter Nguyen by Department of Defense Staff Photographer.
[Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Maj. Pete Nguyen are his and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, or its components.]
People are incredibly small in the grand scheme of things, but sometimes, seemingly insignificant people can make the most significant impact.
Peter Nguyen graduated from BYU-Idaho in 2010 and now serves as the director of strategic communications and assistant spokesman for the National Security Council.
“I absolutely 100% believe that any success that I’ve had in the military or the federal government was 1,000% influenced by my education and upbringing at BYU-Idaho,” said Nguyen.
Before being appointed to his current role in February, Nguyen served as a public affairs officer assigned to the Indo-Pacific and a spokesman for the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon.
Nguyen was charged with communicating with the media about issues involving the People’s Republic of China, Japan, Vietnam, Guam, Tonga, Samoa, and Australia.
On the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, Nguyen arrived at the Pentagon to find out that the Gaza War had begun.
“That morning, I woke up to a flurry of phone calls and emails and went into the office just knowing something terrible and important had happened,” Nguyen said. “At first, I was in disbelief of this terrible thing. But then reporters started sending me social media videos of the attacks and kidnappings.”
The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been building for decades.
Per active coverage by the Wall Street Journal, when a terrorist group named Hamas reportedly took over the Palestinian country in 2006, the tension escalated.
To help contain Hamas, “Israel spent three years building a 40-mile-long, state-of-the-art, high-tech security barrier along the Gaza Strip,” the Wall Street Journal reported. The barrier was designed to detect Palestinians attacking Israel.
On the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas used bulldozers and other tools to punch through the wall built by Israel, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Israel responded by declaring war on the militant group and carrying out airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Within hours, the SoD ordered an aircraft carrier into the region,” Nguyen said. “He ordered additional naval ships to go into the region. We put other US forces in the region on heightened alert.”
As weeks turned into months, Nguyen’s job revolved around the Middle East conflict.
He coordinated communication between the Department of Defense’s military organizations and Israel.
He worked with Department of Defense policymakers daily, explaining Department of Defense policies to the media and providing government transparency.
His most visible role was prepping Pat Ryder, the Air Force Major General, for biweekly press conferences at the Pentagon.
For six months, the press meeting was dominated by questions about Israel and the Middle East. Nguyen ensured that Ryder was equipped to answer the press’s questions.
“It gave me a sense of awe and wonder because I got to witness this national defense apparatus come into play,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen found peace amidst the conflict and purpose in the simple. Through professionalism, mindfulness, and faith in God, he maintained a perspective that individuals matter and people are important.
“You just can’t help but bear witness to these things and get the impression that there’s something bigger, that there is something greater,” Nguyen said. “But at the same time, there are individual people who, in the big scheme of things, who don’t matter but also are so important.”
To others, Nguyen is a significant person who is intrinsically involved in the big scheme of things. His involvement in world affairs would surely lead to that conclusion.
But at the end of the day, Peter Nguyen goes home to have dinner with his wife and children.