By Mike Boyer
Enquirer staff writer

In a step to build its security and defense business, the O'Gara Group in Cincinnati has formed a board of advisers consisting of three former government officials.

Brothers Tom and Bill O'Gara have teamed up with the Walnut Group, a Cincinnati venture capital firm, to acquire companies supplying products to combat terrorism and for use in small conflicts, and hope to build a company with upward of $500 million in revenue.

Named to the advisory board were:

• Retired Gen. Henry H. Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Clinton administration and former commander in chief, Special Operations Command.

• Kurt M. Campbell, director of the international security program and Henry A. Kissinger chair in national security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

• Christopher A. Williams, partner in Johnston and Associates, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm. Williams is a former acting undersecretary of defense for policy in the George W. Bush administration.

Calling the advisory board a major milestone, company CEO Bill O'Gara said the group would help the emerging company pursue government contracts and products needed by the armed forces. A spokesman said others might be named to the advisory panel later.

The O'Gara brothers, who built O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Armoring in Fairfield into one of Ohio's fastest growing publicly held companies before selling it, last year acquired Specialized Technical Services Inc., a Beavercreek, Ohio, maker of special night-vision goggles.

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E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com