James Lee Dozier (born April 10, 1931) is a retired
United States Army officer. In December 1981, he was kidnapped by the
Italian Red Brigades Marxist militant group. He was rescued by
NOCS, an Italian
SWAT force, after 42 days of captivity. General Dozier was the deputy Chief of Staff at
NATO's Southern European land forces headquarters at
Verona, Italy. The Red Brigades, in a statement to the press, stated the reason behind kidnapping an American general was that the US and Italian governments had enjoyed excellent diplomatic relations and that Dozier was an American soldier invited to work in Italy, which justified their abduction. To date, Dozier is the only American
flag officer to have been captured by a
VNSA.