Expensive Mr. Secretary,
Custom dictates that I start by congratulating you in your affirmation. You appear to be a person who appreciates frankness, and so I’ll spare you empty decorum: It could be disingenuous of me to disclaim that I’ve been against your nomination to guide the Division of Protection from the second it was introduced. However the Senate has voted, and also you at the moment are the chief of essentially the most highly effective navy on the planet.
Somewhat than give you empty congratulations, I hope you’ll settle for—within the spirit of the love of nation that I do know we each share—some unsolicited recommendation. You face distinctive challenges: You’re among the many least certified main Cupboard nominees in fashionable American historical past, you don’t have any background in main a big group, and also you come into workplace with critical questions on your character and health, even from some in your personal get together. I need to let you know that I imagine you need to have informed Donald Trump final fall that you possibly can not, in good conscience, settle for his provide.
However you probably did settle for it, and so I write to you immediately not as a critic, however as a fellow American. I do know—as you do—that your success is crucial to the safety and security of our nation, and so all of us with one thing to supply owe you our greatest efforts, together with our direct and trustworthy views.
I ship these ideas to you with out partisanship or ill-will: The time for that’s over. We stay in harmful occasions and you can’t fail in your new duties. I’ve no real interest in lecturing you about your private life, or your reported use of alcohol. I’ve been by way of such struggles myself, and I imagine that even—maybe particularly—in difficult moments, you’ll select to method your new obligations with each bodily and mental sobriety.
I labored in nationwide safety and protection affairs for practically 40 years, together with a quarter-century wherein my duty was to coach American officers. I have no idea how you can be a Secretary of Protection, however based mostly on my expertise, I’ve three suggestions for you that I hope will contribute to a profitable tenure main America’s navy.
First, and most essential, I implore you to take heed to the women and men working for you who’ve served our nation. Listening is an indication of energy, Mr. Secretary, not weak point. Each dangerous senior chief I ever encountered in my profession, together with generals, admirals, and elected officers, all had the identical flaw: Insecurity. They talked and opined and issued orders as an alternative of listening. (From your personal navy days, you most likely keep in mind this expression: They solely had Transmit Mode, no Obtain Mode.) I do know you’ve been charged with shaking up the Pentagon, however the harmful world round us is not going to put their plans on pause in case you get distracted by a superficial home tradition battle.
You should have the facility of resolution on virtually something that crosses your path, however you aren’t omniscient. You’re surrounded by a wealth of expertise and experience. Sure, a few of the folks beneath you’ll not be joyful concerning the election or your affirmation, however they respect the horrible burden you’re carrying, and they’re there that can assist you. They share your love of nation, and your sense of responsibility. Their success is your success. They aren’t the enemy. Hear them out.
Talking of enemies, you need to cope with the fact that you’re coming into workplace with virtually no credibility along with your counterparts in Moscow and Beijing (and elsewhere). I say this not as an insult, however to explain in plain phrases the situations you face overseas. I’ve lengthy expertise with the Russians, specifically, and whereas they are going to deal with you with formal courtesy, make no mistake: These are onerous and harmful individuals who could have no respect for a former O-5 and talk-show host. I understand it’s an uncomfortable reality, however defensiveness about this may solely distract you from the work forward.
You need to cowl quite a lot of distance with these opponents. Your earlier expertise as a public commentator shall be of no assist and in reality will show counterproductive in such conditions. You can not bully and speechify your method to respect with such folks; they’re powerful in a approach that can’t be countered with macho posturing or rants about DEI. The facile attraction that labored for you in public life shall be a vulnerability in coping with our enemies, who will search to use each inconsiderate phrase. The combative punditry that works so properly on cable tv in America may need helped you burn time throughout your affirmation listening to, however none of that may serve you properly in negotiations or discussions with our devoted foes. (It gained’t do you a lot good speaking to our allies, both.)
As an alternative, you’ll find that you need to depend on individuals who have been within the rooms you’ve by no means seen till now. You aren’t required to take their recommendation, Mr. Secretary, however when your counterparts name you, your workers will be capable to help you in methods you won’t have thought-about. They’ll warn you about your opponent’s methods—and weaknesses—earlier than you even choose up the cellphone. Your earlier profession has rewarded bombast and bluster; now you’ll have to grasp judiciousness, restraint, and the strategic use of silence.
Lastly, I hope that you’ll go away behind the form of rhetoric that introduced you to prominence. I do know that you simply gained this put up by being a loyal soldier for President Trump. The reality is that almost all People—together with the People who serve within the U.S. navy—don’t actually care practically as a lot as you’d take into consideration the cultural points that introduced you into the Trump administration. You’re not a pundit or a provocateur: From immediately, your fellow residents are trusting you with the lives of their kids. (“Thanks for giving us your son,” a basic informed one among my mates whose boy, such as you, went by way of ROTC. “We’ll take excellent care of him.”)
The remainder of us are trusting you with all our lives. You can properly be the final particular person to talk to the president earlier than he decides to go to battle—or considers utilizing nuclear weapons. Partisan attachments shall be meaningless at such moments.
Once I was barely 30 years outdated, I suggested a Republican senator who was attempting to resolve whether or not to assist President George H.W. Bush’s 1990 resolution to go to battle in opposition to Iraq in Kuwait. “Am I doing the correct factor?” he requested me. At that second, I felt as if the world had fallen on my shoulders. Nothing else mattered. “Sure, I feel so,” I stammered. After which we spent hours within the gloom of a winter afternoon discussing his eventual vote to ship younger People into battle.
You’ll face choices galactically higher than my one small second with my boss 35 years in the past. Some choices you make will really feel small to you, however they are going to have an effect on tons of of hundreds of individuals within the navy neighborhood, and others will stay with them lengthy after you’ve left authorities service. Extra importantly, a few of your solutions could have existential penalties for humanity itself. The election and the speeches are over. The lives of hundreds of thousands—or maybe billions—now rely on stuff you say that nobody however the president may hear.
You’re a man of religion, Mr. Secretary. We’ve that in widespread. And so I’ll shut with my honest want that the Lord hold you and information you within the days to return.
