Selmo Cikotić Selmo Cikotić ( born January 25 , 1964 ) is a politician of Bosnia and Herzegovina , member of the Party of Democratic Action , and former Army officer . He is the current Minister of Defence , a post he was appointed to in February 2007 , but unable to take up officially until 22 April 2007 , when a ban on former army officers performing defence - related civilian duties expired . In February 1993 he was made commander of operational group Zapad of the 3rd Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Bugojno . Cikotić served as the military attaché at the embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United States in Washington , D . C . from December 1994 to 1997 . As Brigadier General he was enrolled at the U . S . Army ' s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in June 1997 , before being expelled as a result of unconfirmed accusations made by Croatian officials that he commanded soldiers who killed and tortured people in and around Bugojno . From 2000 to 2004 he was the Commander of the 1st Corps of the Federation Army , and from 2004 to 2007 CEO of OKI in Sarajevo . In June 2007 he jointly attended a Euro - Atlantic Partnership Council at the NATO headquarters in Brussels with the Serbian defence minister Dragan Šutanovac , together they expressed their governments ' wish to join NATO as soon as possible . In March 2008 he led a five member delegation to Pakistan , to discuss " bilateral cooperation between the two Muslim countries " . Cikotić has a master ' s degree from the University of Sarajevo in 2004 and is fluent in English . References . Selmo CIKOTIC was born on January 25 , 1964 , in Berane , Montenegro . Upon completing elementary school at his birthplace , he attended Military High school in Belgrade , and finished it 1982 . Having graduated from former Yugoslav Military Academy in 1986 ( air defense branch ) he began his professional officer career , acting as a commander and teacher of reserve officer cadets at Air Defense School Center at Zadar . 1990 / 91 school year he completed English language school at JNA Foreign Languages School Center in Belgrade . During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina he performed different military assignments , including the duty of a Battalion commander , Operational group ( division size ) commander and the Corps chief of staff . He , also , acted as a Liaison officer of BH Supreme Command with UNPROFOR Command in Sarajevo , for three months , during the first year of the war . From the end of 1994 until June 1997 , he served as the Defense Attaché of Bosnia and Herzegovina to The USA , in Washington DC , where he participated at Dayton peace talks , as a member of Bosnia and Herzegovina state delegation , negotiating the military aspects of the Overall framework agreement . Afterwards , from August 1997 , till January 1999 , he worked as the Chief of Doctrine , Education and Training Division of B & H Federation Military . Then , he was assigned as the Chief of personal staff of B & H Federation Deputy Defense Minister . From April until November 2000 he acted as the 1st corps of Federation Military Deputy Commander and then as a Commander of the same corps , from November 2000 until April 2004 , when he retired from military service with the rank of brigadier . In the aftermath of his military career he worked for three years in a private construction company OKI Sarajevo as CEO . From April 22 , 2007 up to March 5 , 2012 he was assigned to the position of the Defense Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina . Dr . Selmo Cikotic is currently the Dean of American School of Government at American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina and teaches “ International public law ” and “ Theory and practice of political and economic diplomacy ” . For last two years he works as a visiting fellow at Geneva Center for Security Policy and teaches “ National Security Policies and Strategies ” and “ Leadership ” at doctoral studies at Sarajevo University . From 2000 he attended Postgraduate studies at The Sarajevo University Faculty of Political Sciences and earned MA degree in security and defense . The title of his MA theses was : „ Possibilities of Transfer of Compatible Solutions from USA Security System to the Security System of B & H “ . He defended his PhD theses under the title : “ SECURITY PROSPECTS OF BOSNIA AND HERCEGOVINA ” in July 2008 . In May 2009 he was elected Docent for Politics and Strategies of National Security at Faculty of Political Sciences at Sarajevo University . He published a number of articles , translated a lot of military field manuals and studies , from English to Bosnian . His two books , “ THE USA – BIH , POSSIBLE TRANSFER OF SECURITY SOLUTIONS ” and “ SECURITY PROSPECTIVES OF BOSNIA AND HERCEGOVINA ” were published in 2010 .