1. Robert Ruhl "Rob" Simmons was born on February 11,1943 and is an American politician and retired US Army colonel who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2007, representing Connecticut's 2nd congressional district as a Republican.
Rob Simmons was formerly Chairman of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy.
Rob Simmons was born in New York City and attended Haverford College, graduating in 1965.
Rob Simmons enlisted in the United States Army as a private, serving in active duty from 1965 to 1969.
Rob Simmons graduated from Infantry Officer Candidate School in 1967 and became a commissioned officer.
Rob Simmons fought in the Vietnam War and earned two Bronze Star Medals for his service.
Rob Simmons served in the United States Army Reserve as a Military Intelligence Officer from 1969 to 2003, retiring at the rank of full colonel.
Rob Simmons joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1969, working as an Operations Officer for a decade, including five years on assignment overseas in East Asia.
Rob Simmons ran the Phu Yen Province Interrogation Center from November 1970 to June 1972, according to an article by Douglas Valentine in Everything You Know is Wrong, and he "mounted numerous paramilitary and psychological warfare operations against" the Viet Cong.
Rob Simmons was awarded the CIA's Agency Seal Medal in 1985.
Rob Simmons then became a professor of political science at Yale College and at the University of Connecticut.
Rob Simmons represented the 43rd district before running for Congress.
Rob Simmons was a member of the House Armed Services Committee and was involved in issues concerning the district's major defense presence at the Electric Boat submarine shipyard in Groton and the nearby Naval Submarine Base New London.
Rob Simmons led the successful fight to save the base and the BRAC removed it from its closure list on August 24,2005.
Rob Simmons served on the House Homeland Security Committee as chairman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment.
Rob Simmons was a strong advocate of improved intelligence-sharing among federal, state, and local authorities.
Rob Simmons championed Open Source Intelligence on Capital Hill, where he helped to legally define open source intelligence in the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act, requiring the Department of Defense to establish an OSINT program.
Rob Simmons spearheaded an effort to establish an open source intelligence unit at the Department of Homeland Security.
In 2000, Rob Simmons ran for the United States House of Representatives defeating ten-term Democratic incumbent Sam Gejdenson by only 2,000 votes.
On election night Rob Simmons trailed Courtney by 167 votes out of over 242,000 votes cast.
Rob Simmons was the last Republican to garner even 40 percent of the vote in this district until 2022.
On February 26,2007, Simmons was nominated by Connecticut Governor M Jodi Rell to become the State's first Business Advocate.
On March 15,2009, Rob Simmons announced his intention to challenge Senator Chris Dodd for the United States Senate in 2010.
McMahon, a billionaire, spent more than $22 million through the primary, while Rob Simmons spent under $3 million.
Rob Simmons was deeply disappointed by his loss and later suspended his campaign.
Rob Simmons went on to lose the primary to McMahon.
In 2015, Rob Simmons was elected First Selectman of Stonington, Connecticut.
Rob Simmons was sworn into office on November 16,2015.