Annual Eisenhower Award Dinner 

Dwight D. Eisenhower Award

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Award is NDIA's most prestigious Award and is accompanied by the Eisenhower Medal. The Award is named in honor of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and serves to recognize his support for and contribution to a strong national security and robust defense industrial base. The Eisenhower Award and Medal recognize leadership and strategic impact at the highest levels of National Security. The Eisenhower Award is bestowed annually on an individual who best reflects President Eisenhower's beliefs and support for a strong national security and industrial base. The awardees will meet the following criteria:

  • U.S. Citizen
  • Strategic impact and leadership at the National level
  • A leader in support of the military services and other security-related agencies
  • An active supporter of the defense industrial base and its programs
  • A leader in defining and addressing industrial base and national security issues

NDIA and its predecessor organizations (ADPA & NSIA) have given annual Awards since 1979—the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for ADPA and the James Forrestal Memorial Award for NSIA. Beginning in 1994, the annual Award was rotated between the Eisenhower Award and the Forrestal Award. After the merger of ADPA and NSIA, and beginning in 2005, the NDIA Board mandated that the Eisenhower Award and Medal would be given on an annual basis at the NDIA Award Dinner in Washington D.C., and the Forrestal Award and Medal would replace the Defense Industry Leadership Award and be given annually at the Army Executive Seminar in Atlanta, Georgia. This decision perpetuates the legacies of these two great individuals and preserves both Awards.

The Honorable Ashton B. Carter 

The Honorable Ashton B. Carter, Deputy Secretary of Defense, received the 2013 Dwight D. Eisenhower Award from the National Defense Industrial Association at a black tie dinner Friday, May 3, 2013, at the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner, McLean, Virginia.
  Read Dr. Carter's comments

- View Slide Show of Dinner Pictures -

Previous award recipients:

2013   Hon. Ashton B. Carter 1995 General Gordon R. Sullivan, USA
2012   Hon. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon  1994    Dr. William J. Perry  *
2011   Senator Christopher S. "Kit" Bond 1993    Congressman John P. Murtha
2010   General James T. Conway, USMC 1993    President George H. W. Bush *
2009   General David H. Petraeus, USA 1992    The Honorable Dick Cheney
2008   Admiral Thad W. Allen, USCG 1991    General Colin L. Powell, USA
2007   Congressman Norman D. Dicks 1990    Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr., USN
2006   Honorable Gordon England 1989    Senator Sam Nunn
2005   General Richard B. Myers, USAF 1988    Ambassador Vernon A. Walters
2004   Congressman Ike Skelton * 1987    The Honorable Caspar W. Weinberger
2003   General James L. Jones, USMC 1986    Mr. Ross Perot
2002   Senator Daniel K. Inouye * 1985    Senator Barry Goldwater
2001   General Joseph W. Ralston, USAF 1984    Ambassador Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick
2000   Senator John Warner  * 1983    Senator John G. Tower
1999    Congressman C. W. (Bill) Young 1982    Congressman William L. Dickinson
1998    Senator Ted Stevens  * 1981    Governor William P. Clements
1997    Dr. William J. Perry 1980    Mr. Bob Hope
1996    Mr. Daniel M. Tellep  * 1979    Senator John C. Stennis

* James Forrestal Memorial Award

  

Affiliate Associations

The Association for Enterprise Information    National Training and Simulation Association    Precision Strike Association    Women in Defense