Walter Souza Braga Netto

Walter Souza Braga Netto (born 11 March 1957) is a Brazilian army general of the Brazilian Army. He is the current Brazilian Minister of Defence. Braga was Commander of the Eastern Military Command and, until 31 December 2018, Federal Interventor in the Public Security of the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Military career.
Enlisted on 17 February 1975, joined Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras (AMAN) where, on 14 December 1978, he was declared Officer Aspirant. Braga was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 31 August 1979, to 1st Lieutenant on 25 December 1980 and to Captain on 25 December 1984.
High officer.
As lieutenant colonel, he was assistant of Sub-Secretariat of Programs and Project of the Secretariat of Strategic Affairs of the Presidency of the Republic. On 2 February 2001, he was nominated Cabinet Officer of then Army Commander, Gleuber Vieira.
On 9 July 2001, Braga was nominated commander of the 1st Regiment of Combat Cars (1° RCC), still headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. He was promoted to colonel on 17 December 2001.
He was nominated Defence and Army Attaché to the Brazilian Embassy in Poland, position he held from 1 February 2005 to 1 February 2007.
General officer.
Promoted to Brigadier general in November 2009, he was nominated Staff-Chief of the Western Military Command on 23 November.
In 2011, he was designated military attaché of the Army to the Brazilian Embassy in the United States, also accredited to Canada.
On 31 March 2013, he was promoted to Divisional general. On 21 August, he was nominated General Coordinated of the Special Advisory of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016. On 25 November 2015, Walter Braga became commander of the 1st Military Region, leaving the Coordination.
On 31 July 2016, he was promoted to Army general and nominated Commander of the Eastern Military Command.
On 16 February 2018, General Braga Netto was nominated Federal Interventor in the Public Security of Rio de Janeiro by President Michel Temer, position he held until the end of the year.
On 29 March 2019, took office as Staff-Chief of the Army.
On 12 February 2020, he was invited by President Jair Bolsonaro for the position of Chief of Staff of the Presidency. On March 31, 2021, after the joint resignation of the commanders of the three branches of the Brazilian armed forces, Minister of Defense, and other leaders in the Brazilian military, Bragga Netto was appointed as the new Minister of Defense.
COVID-19 pandemic.
On May 26, 2020, a report from Reuters revealed that as the Health Ministry of Brazil began taking preventative measures against the COVID-19 pandemic on March 13, Bolsonaro intervened and scaled back their procedures within 24 hours. By March 16, Bolsonaro discreetly shifted power from the ministry to Braga Netto's Casa Civil, with the given reason being that "the pandemic 'transcended' public health".
In August 2020, Braga Netto was diagnosed with COVID-19.