Gene La Rocque

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Gene R. La Rocque (born 1918) is a retired rear admiral of the United States Navy who founded the Center for Defense Information. Born in Kankakee, Illinois, he began his naval service in 1940.

When the attack of Pearl Harbor war carried out, he was serving on the USS Macdonough. He participated in 13 major battles in World War II and worked for seven years in the Strategic Plans Directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He retired in 1972, disillusioned over the Vietnam War. La Rocque and his colleagues testified before Congress, appeared frequently in the media, and consulted many national and international political leaders.

In the 1980s, La Rocque founded a weekly public affairs television program, America's Defense Monitor. In 1974, he stated that in his experience, any ship that is capable of carring nuclear weapons, carries nuclear weapons and do not off-load them when they are in foreign ports. The statement sparked contorversy in Japan, which has a non-nuclear policy since World War II.

In August 1983, 575 retired admirals, led by Thomas Moorer, placed an advertisement in The Washington Times criticizing La Rocque for appearing on Soviet television. He retired from the center in 1993.