Michael Glenn Mullen
Chairman from Oct. 1, 2007 – Sept. 30, 2011
Michael G. Mullen was born in Los Angeles, California, on 4 October 1946. The son of a prominent Hollywood publicist, he was the eldest of five children. Mullen enrolled in the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and graduated on 5 June 1968, earning a bachelor of science degree in systems engineering and a commission in the US Navy.
Ensign Mullen reported to San Diego, California, for ten weeks of training, then joined the USS Collett (DD 730) in October 1968. In September 1969, the destroyer sailed for a six-month deployment to the Western Pacific where the crew participated in operations off the coast of Vietnam, including naval gunfire in support of US Army, US Marine Corps, and South Vietnamese forces near Da Nang.
In July1971, Lieutenant (j. g.) Mullen reported aboard the USS Blandy (DD 943) as Weapons Officer. In January 1973, Lieutenant Mullen assumed command of the USS Noxubee (AOG 56), a World War II era gasoline tanker.
Lieutenant Mullen returned to the US Naval Academy in July 1975. He served two years with concurrent assignments as an instructor, a member of the admissions board, and assistant officer-in-charge for summer midshipman training. In October 1978, Mullen reported aboard the guided missile cruiser USS Fox (CG 33) as chief engineer. Nearly three years later, in July 1981, Mullen became the executive officer of the USS Sterett (CG 31), home ported in Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines.
After attending the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, California, Mullen transferred to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and took command of the USS Goldsborough (DDG 20) in June 1985. In recognition of his performance while commanding afloat, Mullen received the Pacific Fleet’s 1987 Vice Admiral Stockdale Leadership Award.
Commander Mullen returned to Newport, Rhode Island, in October 1987. After completing the integrated warfare course for post-command officers at the Naval War College, in December he assumed the duties of Director of the Surface Warfare Division Officer Course. In September 1989, Mullen transferred to Washington, DC, where he became the Navy’s staff assistant to the director for Operational Test and Evaluation at the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).
Captain Mullen next completed the 11 week Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in November 1991, followed by command refresher training in Rhode Island and Virginia. In April 1992 he assumed command of the AEGIS guided missile cruiser USS Yorktown (CG 48).
Returning to Washington in February 1994, Captain Mullen served as director of the Surface Officer Distribution Division at the Bureau of Naval Personnel. In August 1995 Mullen became director of the Surface Warfare Plans, Programs, and Requirements Division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
Following his promotion to flag rank on 1 April 1996, Rear Admiral (lower half) Mullen served briefly as the Deputy Director of the Surface Warfare Division and completed refresher training at Oceana, Virginia. Then, in August he took command of Cruiser-Destroyer Group TWO, with concurrent duties as commander of the USS George Washington (CVN 73) Aircraft Carrier Battle Group.
Mullen returned to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in May 1998, this time as Director of the Surface Warfare Division (N-86). In October 2000, Vice Admiral Mullen accepted concurrent command of the US Second Fleet and NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic, embarked upon the USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20).
Vice Admiral Mullen returned to Washington in August 2001 as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Resources, Requirements, and Assessments (N-8) in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). A principal architect of Sea Power 21, the CNO’s strategic vision to address 21st Century threats, he advocated for a Global Concept of Operations that reconfigured naval forces to create additional expeditionary strike groups.
Following his promotion to admiral in August 2003, Mullen was appointed the Vice Chief of Naval Operations. In October 2004 Admiral Mullen took concurrent command of US Naval Forces, Europe, and Allied Joint Force Command, situated in Naples, Italy.
Eight months later, on 22 July 2005, Admiral Mullen became the 28th Chief of Naval Operations. Dedicated to developing the Sea Power 21 vision, Admiral Mullen recommended replacement of aging vessels and expansion of the current fleet to 313 ships by 2020. Much of the fleet’s anticipated growth was linked to a new multi-mission littoral combat ship, which would reduce costs and improve the Navy’s capability to deal with terrorist threats and humanitarian crises world-wide.
Based on the recommendation of Dr. Robert M. Gates, the Secretary of Defense, Admiral Mullen became the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 1 October 2007. Security conditions in Iraq had improved by that time, enabling the additional US forces to start to gradually withdraw. Nonetheless, Admiral Mullen made clear that the Iraqi security forces still needed American military assistance to counter insurgent and terrorist violence. In November 2008, after much debate, the Iraqi Parliament accepted a status of forces agreement with the United States that restricted US combat operations and called for an intermediate withdrawal of American forces from major cities by June 2009, followed by their complete departure by the end of 2011.
Relegated by necessity to an economy of force mission, the situation in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan worsened during 2007. Mullen acknowledged that coalition forces were losing ground and advocated greater involvement. “In Afghanistan, we do what we can,” he told members of the House Armed Services Committee in December 2007. “In Iraq, we do what we must.” He also initiated a long-term diplomatic relationship with General Ashfaq Kayani, the Pakistani Army Chief of Staff, pledging support and soliciting cooperation in combating militants in the country’s unruly tribal area.
Shortly after his inauguration in 2009, President Obama shifted the military’s focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, presented a new counterinsurgency strategy for the region, and increased the number of deployed forces. Admiral Mullen repeatedly warned about the detrimental effect that poor governance and corruption was having on the Afghan population. He also worked with special operations forces to provide options for the president for operations that resulted in the killing of Osama bin Laden in the spring of 2011. Together these developments made it possible for Admiral Mullen to support President Obama’s plan to withdraw US troops and turn over security to Afghan forces by 2014.
The recession in 2008 challenged modernization efforts, compelling Admiral Mullen to acknowledge that the federal debt represented “the single biggest threat to national security.” During the next three years the Chairman and Secretary Gates aggressively trimmed expensive, redundant, or failing programs in order to recapitalize funds for higher priority requirements.
The most controversial issue separating civil and military values during Mullen’s tenure was a matter of enlistment criteria. Mullen endorsed President Obama’s January 2010 pledge to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” President Obama subsequently signed the repeal into law on 22 December and nine months later, after Admiral Mullen, Secretary Leon Panetta, and President Obama “certified” to Congress that the military was ready to execute the new policy, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell officially ended on 20 September 2011.
Admiral Mullen’s 2011 National Military Strategy envisioned “a ‘multi-nodal’ world characterized more by shifting interest-driven coalitions based on diplomatic, military, and economic power, than by rigid security competition between opposing blocks.” The establishment of US Africa Command in 2007 and US Cyber Command in 2010 reflected the wide range of emerging 21st century challenges.
Admiral Mullen left Office on 1 October 2011. He retired one month later, after serving over forty-three years in uniform.