US Army officer's death in Dhaka raises questions amid shifting political winds

The quiet death of Terrence Arvelle “TJ” Jackson, a 50-year-old American national and senior U.S. Army officer, inside a Dhaka hotel has stirred unease in diplomatic and security circles—not only for the secrecy surrounding his work in Bangladesh, but also for its timing, coming months after the country’s dramatic change of government.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Jackson, who was based in Raeford, North Carolina, near Fort Liberty—headquarters of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command—was found unresponsive in Room 808 of The Westin Dhaka on the morning of 31 August 2025, according to police documents reviewed by The Sunday Guardian. He had checked in two days earlier after what officials described as “several months in Bangladesh on business.”

CCTV footage from the hotel showed no irregular activity, and his body was released to the U.S. Embassy Dhaka without a local autopsy. Authorities listed the preliminary cause as natural.

Information obtained by The Sunday Guardian shows that Jackson was no ordinary soldier.

A LinkedIn profile in Jackson’s name—also referenced by several individuals on social media who claimed to know him—listed a career spanning more than two decades in the U.S. Army, including multiple combat deployments and temporary duty assignments across the Asia theater as well as advanced command roles.