ADMIRAL MICHAEL MULLEN: Thank you, Fran. And welcome to all of you and, in particular, congratulations to the graduates. You know, as I listened to that single national anthem and the meaning that it has for all Americans, I wish we had time today to play the 52 other national anthems, every bit as meaningful to our students who are here, and I think that number and that music says an awful lot about who we are as an international community now, and who we need to be in the future.
I’d like to welcome all of our visiting Ambassadors, our international and interagency partners, and the many distinguished guests singled out by General Wilson and others who are here today.
For me, it’s always a pleasure and a bit refreshing, especially during this time of year, which those of us in the Pentagon call testimony season, to drive north over the 14th Street Bridge, and take a right once in a while, instead of a left.
That said, I’ll always miss and cherish every trip up the steps of our Capitol, every one that I enjoyed to grasp the hand of Senator John Warner.
Senator, thank you so much for being here. You honor us with your presence.
Senator Warner’s moral courage and broad vision have had a profound impact on our national security ever since World War II, when he enlisted in our Navy as an electronics technician at the young age of 17, and embarked upon a journey to the highest levels of public service; also, later on, in the Korean War as a Marine.
And his time of service included duty as our Secretary and Undersecretary of the Navy, and 30 years in the United States Senate.
It’s hard to believe that almost two years have passed since the Senator stood outside the Rotunda at the University of Virginia to announce his retirement from the Senate, and bid his first farewell to the Commonwealth.
On that hot August day in Charlottesville, he reminded us of the true nature of service, saying – and I quote: “One’s achievements in life are largely owed to all who helped along the way. Indeed, these institutions and the military forged my character and taught me a sense of value that I’ve carried all my life. Public service is a privilege, and I urge all to try and find at some point in their lifetime a means to serve the needs of others.” Unquote.
Senator, I would only add that we owe you for helping each of us along the way, and for personifying a lifetime of service on behalf of our men and women in uniform, their families and, indeed, our nation. Thank you. (Applause.)
General Wilson, Ambassador Roth and your exceptional faculty and staff, these are critical times and you make this university worthy of its namesake, a truly whole of government and international partnership which today graduates 580 students from 65 nations.
Indeed, NDU teaches both by its syllabus and its very construct that in this world of great change, no one can find those paths alone.
To you and your entire staff, thank you for your research, your insights and, most importantly, thank you for your invaluable instruction of these graduates, these future leaders, for the priceless gift of not what to think, but how to think.
And please allow me to great your families, all of your families. We simply cannot defend this nation or any nation without them; they serve every bit as much as we.
So, again, to General Wilson and the faculty, thank you.
(Applause.)
And I’d like to take a minute also to express my both professional and personal gratitude to General Fran Wilson. I’ve actually known Fran and her husband, Ed, for a long time. And this is, as far as I know, General Wilson’s last graduation here. She’s been an exceptional leader; she is a motivated, inspirational, devoted Marine and member of our Joint military. And this university and thousands of students have been served exceptionally well over the time of her stewardship of NDU. And I want to say, thank you, Fran, for that. (Applause.)
There is one very special family here today I’d like to recognize, a family from Senegal who, along with all of you, holds dear the memory of a fallen classmate General Wilson already made mention of. And, if I may, Madame Mimi, and to your daughter and son back home – (in French) – your sorrow is ours.
And I know Matar smiles upon this day. Our thoughts and prayers remain with you.
And, finally, to our graduates. Soon you will return to the field and to the fleet, and you will likely find some things different.
But one thing remains the same: The United States and many other countries are at war.
And as we draw down responsibly in Iraq and shift our main effort to Afghanistan, where we urgently need our best talent, both faculty and student, military and civilian, you’ll see that what you worked so hard to achieve here has great and immediate purpose.
Not just to write strategy or think through problems, but to lead.
And that’s what I want to talk about today: your leadership responsibilities tomorrow.
There are, in my view, three different levels of leaders you will lead: our unit commanders, our senior enlisted leaders and, finally, our junior officers.
First, our leading commanders, some of you have already been chosen to lead leaders. Many have already had command once, did it extremely well and I know you’re itching to do it again.
But I’d like to tell you this: It will be different the next time.
Your battalion and squadron commanders all want exactly what you did; in fact, what you still do: the opportunity to make a difference, to accomplish their mission and to innovate along the way.
But what they want more than ever is for you to share the knowledge that you gained right here. They need to be able to question like you did and debate like you. Their ability and desire to think critically will begin with you as their leader.
And, like you, their opinions matter. In fact, like all of us who wear the uniform and long after we take it off for good, our opinions and best advice matter most while we are still accountable for them, in the line of duty, and in private.
You are about to set a critical example in the field, at sea, and even in retirement, eventually, that will determine nothing less than the success of our professional military.
And I’m sure most of you know the work of Professor Sam Huntington, one of the great thinkers of our age, who passed away just a few months ago. Back in 1957, he issued this warning, which I believe remains even more relevant today:
“A political officer corps, rent with faction, subordinated to ulterior ends, lacking prestige but sensitive to the appeals of popularity would endanger the security of the state. A strong, integrated, highly professional officer corps, on the other hand, immune to politics and respected for its military character would be a steadying balance wheel in the conduct of policy.”
As I have said many times before, we must remain a neutral instrument of national power, apolitical in all that we do and mindful of the greater interests of the country even when, especially when, we take the uniform off at the end of a long career.
It is difficult to bend the arc of our military from without, and I’d go so far as to say it’s not always very helpful. I believe change is best led by leaders like you, people in the fight and in the know who set the example from within, not just by encouraging juniors to speak truth to power, but by truly listening when they do so, especially when you disagree.
And by giving them credit for their ideas, and involving them in your decisions as you lead them, you will instill what General Chuck Boyd calls “purity from partnership,” the most important virtue our military has – and impress upon them a grave sense of duty to our most valued institutions, for life.
Second, leading senior enlisted. For many of you, it’s probably been at least a year since you’ve had to deal with the day-to-day senior enlisted leaders of your service. For the civilians here, perhaps the analogies for you are your expeditionary team leaders or young community experts.
As for our military, few people believe as fervently in our traditions, in our vital connections with families and people or in our very reason for existence as our senior enlisted leaders. They enter the service usually right out of high school and sometimes a little later; their families raise them to value service to a cause greater than self, and to make a difference in the world.
What we can never do is take these leaders, or their convictions, for granted.
Just like you, they are learning and leading and growing. They are not just trying to keep up with you, they’re trying to keep up with and lead a whole new generation. And, as you know, that’s a tough thing to do.
It takes time and effort to teach young people complex technical skills that aren’t getting any easier to master. It takes much more time and effort to mentor them well, and to help ensure that the speed bumps of inexperience won’t derail them from a promising future.
Our senior enlisted best understand our troops, the sources of their motivations and their hopes for the future.
You may lead your units from a strategic level, but these professionals really run your units. You should measure your commitment by theirs.
Lastly, leading junior officers: When you leave here to lead once more I’m sure you’ll have at least a few new worries. And if you are most worried about how you relate to and lead our junior officers from O-1 to O-3, you’ve got it just about right.
Because if you break their will, extinguish their passion or squelch their dreams, you’ll be taking something that does not belong to you.
Within the ranks of those young officers lies the future of our military and the future of our security. And how we raise them and reward their creativity is the key to our success.
What do they want? And you probably already know this: They want responsibility. They want the chance to make good and to do good. They want you to care not for them but about them.
When I visit bases large and small, at home and abroad, I often ask how many deployments they’ve seen. I see hands still in the air for three tours, four tours and sometimes more. They may be tired, but they are wise beyond their years. And it’s up to us to keep as much of that wisdom as we can inside the institution, where we need it most.
Their decision to stay or leave is a matter of national security just as much or more so, in fact, as the complex relationships that you’ve studied here, or military genius in the fog of war, or even the growth of interagency capacity vital to the binds between good governance and people. And, finally, there’s a lot for us to learn about them.
We haven’t really started to learn the true impact of these wars on their lives and especially the post-traumatic stress suffered by them and their families. We have a long way to go to eliminate the stigma that comes with asking for help, well before the stress of war and repeated deployments becomes too much to bear.
It will take a long time to derive lasting answers if we don’t figure out how to truly listen. Yet, if we do, we gain a real possibility of not just doing what we do better, but stemming and shortening the pain of conflict altogether.
And that’s what I would like you to leave with today.
For if you’ve listened closely to yourselves during the past year, you know that you’ve often found a third way of dealing with our most complex challenges, a way forward not constrained by doctrine or held hostage by parochial loyalty.
When you came up with those bright ideas, I’m sure you have wondered why they, the leadership of the rest of the world, just don’t get it.
Well, now you are “they.” Welcome aboard.
You will no doubt face some pretty tough problems, challenges with much the same complexity as the ones you studied right here.
You will recall how you were inspired to think critically, and to question without fear, to seek out radically different solutions and to voice them without reprisal, to read widely and deeply and examine without end, and grow intellectually.
What I ask is this: Pass it on.
Again, congratulations to you and your families. Thank you for your service. Lead well and God bless.