Panetta Outlines Eisenhower’s Legacy of Leadership

By Karen Parrish

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2012 – Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta offered his perspective at a gathering here yesterday evening on what he termed the “strategic turning point” facing the nation.

Accepting the 2012 Dwight D. Eisenhower Award, presented by members of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress during a dinner in his honor hosted by the group, Panetta said Eisenhower’s legacy of “compromise, patience, [and] conviction … remains valuable and instructive to all of us today.”

Eisenhower’s life of service, he added, offers lessons on the importance of statesmanship, of long-term strategic planning and of leadership in war and politics.

The secretary reminded the audience of the challenges America faces: the wear that follows 10 years of war; a diminished but determined terrorist threat; an uncertain global geopolitical situation; and a range of weapons that includes a growing nuclear menace and an elusive but pervasive cyber threat.

“At the same time we face this myriad of threat, we also face another national security threat: the long-term debt and the record deficits,” Panetta said.

To meet that threat, Panetta noted, he and “the entire leadership” of the Defense Department did the painful but necessary work of crafting “a new defense strategy for the long haul,” to shape a defense capability that will sustain the nation’s global leadership in a constrained spending environment.

The department must do its part “to help America put its fiscal house in order,” the secretary said.

“That’s because I agree with what President Eisenhower said in his first state of the union speech,” Panetta continued. “’To amass military power without regard to economic capacity would be to defend ourselves against one kind of disaster by inviting another.’”

The new defense strategy will produce a force that is small, agile, technologically advanced and able to confront aggression at any time or place, he said.

The process of developing that strategy and shaping defense spending plans to support it required the department, he said, to “make tradeoffs and that we put our long-term interest ahead of short-term political pressures.”

“But that’s the nature of governing,” the secretary continued. Over his career in public service, Panetta added, he has learned “that governing requires people coming together to get things done, not to pound their fists on the table, not to stand in the way.”

One of his greatest concerns as secretary, Panetta said, “is the dysfunction that we see in Washington.

“It threatens our security and it raises questions about the capacity of our democracy to respond to crisis,” he added. “But dysfunction is a political crutch, It’s a political excuse. It is not a part of the American spirit.”

Panetta said he hopes Congress will work with the department to implement the strategy and the budget, and “ensure that we have the strong military the country needs for the future.”

Another important lesson Eisenhower’s legacy provides, the secretary said, is the service and sacrifice of a single generation can leave all of us a better life.”

The Americans who have volunteered to be sent to faraway battlefields over the last 10 years are such a generation, Panetta said.

During his recent trip to Afghanistan, Panetta said he was “struck by how even in a tough situation, these dedicated young men and women remain intently focused on the long-term mission.”

The strategy International Security Assistance Force commander Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen and his forces have in place in Afghanistan is effective, Panetta said. Violence is down, the secretary noted, the Taliban are weakened, and Afghan forces are fighting alongside their U.S. and ISAF counterparts.

“We cannot allow the outrages of war to undermine” that strategy, he said.

Panetta acknowledged that the American and Afghan people are tired of war. That is understandable, he said, “but we must summon the will to see this strategy through to success.”

The secretary offered another quote from Eisenhower: “Without American leadership in the search, the pursuit of a just and enduring peace is hopeless. Nowhere in the world -- outside this land -- is there the richness of resources, and stamina, and will needed to lead what at times must be a costly and exhausting effort.”

Americans and their leaders, Panetta said, must summon the will to “fight for that American dream for a better life, but most of all, fight for a government of, by and for all people.”

Sustaining Leadership Hinges on Flexibility, Policy Chief Says

By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2012 – U.S. policymakers today can draw some useful lessons in managing “profound transitions” from President Harry S. Truman’s actions in 1950, the Defense Department’s policy chief said today.

In what she called her last public speech in office, Michèle Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy, told an audience at the Reserve Officers Association National Security Symposium here that Truman took a multidimensional response to bring about fundamental changes in America’s foreign policy.

Truman, five years after World War II ended and with a new Cold War icing relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, also had to consider a newly communist China and North Korea’s invasion of neighboring South Korea, she noted.

Truman and a “truly extraordinary” group of his senior advisors responded to the changing security landscape with a series of programs, reviews and initiatives that led to the Marshall Plan, an independent Air Force and the establishment of the Defense Department and Central Intelligence Agency, Flournoy said.

Truman’s efforts also contributed to the founding of NATO and the United Nations and set a foundation for eventual victory in the Cold War, she added.

The nation’s leaders today face an even more complex strategic era, Flournoy said: swift economic and military growth in China, asymmetric and hybrid forms of warfare incorporating growing threats in the cyber domain, proliferation of nuclear weapons, and trends from the Arab Awakening to global climate change.

“As if all this weren’t enough, in 2008 we suffered the most acute financial crisis since the Great Depression, shaking the very foundation of America’s national security -- our economic strength,” she said.

President Barack Obama has led a whole-of-government effort to ensure the nation’s security strategy accounts for all of these factors, Flournoy said. The defense strategic guidance the president announced Jan. 5 and the defense budget decisions Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta rolled out last week reflect a changed approach to America’s global responsibilities, she added.

The strategy emphasizes a focus on the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East, reduces force size and protects investment in technology and advanced systems, she said.

Operational concepts are evolving and changing, Flournoy said, but the range of possible missions makes it critical that forces can surge, regenerate and mobilize quickly.

“The underlying theme that runs through all this is an emphasis on flexibility, agility, readiness -- on retaining capability across the full spectrum of missions,” she said. “This is the key to sustaining our leadership in an era of complex challenges and hard fiscal choices.”

One of the most discussed words in the defense strategic guidance is “reversibility,” she noted. Some commentators have seized on the word as a sign “that somehow our principles are not firmly fixed, or that our decisions on key programs are subject to rapid change,” she added.

The truth is completely different, she said: “[Reversibility] refers to our ability to make course corrections in response to strategic, economic or technological change.”

For example, she said, even as DOD reduces force size, “we will keep a relatively high proportion of mid-grade officers, who will be at a particular premium if we need to build up those forces quickly.”

Flournoy, who on Feb. 3 will leave the office she has held since February 2009, said DOD’s civil-military team has grappled with a number of national challenges in an integrated way.

During the recent debate over defense spending priorities, Panetta’s commitment to open communication only intensified as the process developed, she said.

“The strategic trumped the parochial time and time again,” Flournoy added. “This is a remarkable thing to witness.”

Flournoy said as she steps down from her current policy role, she has “a lot of faith” in defense leaders’ ability to make sound decisions as “these very difficult choices have to be made in the months and years ahead.”

“When circumstances are difficult, we as a country, as a people, do find a way to come together for the broader national interest,” she said.

Top Pentagon Doctor Dispenses Leadership Message

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2011 – The Pentagon’s top doctor and health affairs advisor yesterday delivered leadership advice to military doctors-in-training and said he’s impressed by the military medical community’s continual quest for improvement.

Dr. Jonathan Woodson said he’s a firm believer that commanders should set the example and lead from the front. So when he paid a visit yesterday to meet with first-year medical students here at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, he jumped right in with them and rappelled down a 63-foot wall.

“As a prior commander, I believe it’s always good to get out in the field with the troops,” he said as he tied a Swiss seat climbing harness around his body. “And I think commanders always need to demonstrate to the troops that they are willing to do everything you ask them to do.”

Woodson, who assumed his post as assistant secretary of defense for health affairs Jan. 10, is no stranger to the tactical side of military operations. A brigadier general in the Army Reserve, he served as assistant surgeon general for reserve affairs, force structure and mobilization in the Office of the Surgeon General, and as deputy commander of the Army Reserve Medical Command.

During his confirmation hearing last summer before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Woodson pledged to draw on his vast experience as a military medical officer, health-care administrator, teacher, researcher and physician to tackle the challenges confronting the military health system.

Improving care for wounded troops at home and abroad would be one of Woodson’s highest priorities, he told the panel. “The highlight of my career as a surgeon has been caring for the wounded warrior on the battlefield,” he said.

Mingling among the students who will one day provide that care, Woodson asked about their career aspirations and encouraged them to seek balance in their lives. As they prepared to tackle the rappelling tower – the wall of the university’s administration building – he urged them to consider all their opportunities.

“You have to be willing to take on challenges outside your comfort zone,” he said.

Rappelling isn’t part of most medical school curricula, but as Woodson pointed out to the students, the Uniformed Services University is no ordinary medical school. In addition to all the academics and hands-on education provided at other medical schools, the Defense Department’s only medical school also provides a healthy dose of leadership and operational military training.

Assembling the students, Woodson emphasized the dual roles they will serve as doctors and military officers. “You are going to be trained to be great physicians, but you are also going to be trained to be great leaders,” he said.

The rappelling exercise was part of a week of training before the students kick off Operation Kerkesner, a two-week field training exercise at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa.

Woodson called the field training a critical part of the students’ education as they prepare to enter an expeditionary U.S. military force. “It’s central to what we do in the military,” he said.

Beyond that, he called field training a valuable way to instill other characteristics the students will need when they reach the field and fleet. “This is a prime laboratory for building leaders, building competency and building skills,” he said.

“Leaders are, primarily, individuals who create a vision for people to follow [and] motivate people to go after that common vision. They solve problems,” he said. “So I am looking for them to be superb physicians and leaders. The world is a dark and dangerous place without good leaders, but there is always a bright future when you have good leadership.”

That leadership is vital as the military continually strives to improve the quality of care it provides on the battlefield, as well as in clinical settings, he said.

“After 10 years of war, we can be very proud of the fact that we have brought a lot of skill and professionalism to the battlefield that has resulted in the lowest died-of-wound rate, the lowest disease and non-battle injury rate [and] the highest survival rates,” he said. “We have gotten so proficient and skilled in certain aspects of medicine… that the military medical community is emulating what we do.”

But Woodson said there’s still progress to be made. “We are a learning organization,” always looking for opportunities to improve, he said. “The whole idea is to understand what you are doing, how you can improve, and how you can improve the art and practice of medicine.”

The Uniformed Services University students will be part of the military medical community that continues to pursue that goal, Woodson noted. Not only will be they force multipliers for the services, he said, but their expertise will make them a valuable resource for the nation as a whole.

“So it is very important that we do this right – that we train them right, we develop their skills and competences as they go along,” he said.

Before returning to his Pentagon office, Woodson urged the students to seek him out as they advance through their university training and their military careers.

“Although they stick me away at that desk at the Pentagon, remember, I am here for you,” he said. “So if you want to come by and visit me, pick my brain about things, feel free. Because if I don’t serve your needs, I have no business being there.”

Stanley Draws From Military Experience as Civilian Leader

By Lisa Daniel

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2011 – As the top civilian leader over Defense Department personnel and readiness, Clifford L. Stanley is overseeing service members and their families through changing times. His best experience to guide that leadership, he says, is his 33 years on active duty.

“I’ve smelled the cordite. I’ve actually lived in the mud. I’m an infantry officer, retired,” he said during a June 7 interview with American Forces Press Service. “As a result, there’s a different perspective I bring to the table.”

A retired Marine Corps major general who holds a doctorate degree, Stanley was appointed as undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness in February 2010. His tenure will include overseeing the drawdown of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, increasingly unpredictable military and humanitarian missions, personnel improvements for women and gays in the military, and constricting defense budgets.

The military has changed greatly – although not enough, Stanley is quick to say – in the four decades since he joined. When he entered the Marine Corps in 1969, he had very few African-American role models. The Marine Corps had only 100 black officers, he said, and the two most senior were lieutenant colonels. “When I made general, I was it in terms of race and ethnicity,” he said.

The increasingly diverse force has made it easier to work through issues such as discrimination, Stanley said. “With diversity, you actually have a better environment to talk about those issues because people approach the same issues differently.”

Another change for the better, Stanley said, is that people are beginning to take a much broader view of diversity than simply gender, race and ethnicity. “There’s a tendency to think that’s all there is. But there’s a lot more than that,” he said. “I can’t overemphasize that enough.”

Stanley’s passion for diversity of thought extends into the military chain of command. “When people think differently, [other] people have a tendency to quash them,” he said. “When you’re in a regimented environment, not thinking like your boss can be a career ender. I have some challenges to that kind of environment.”

Indeed, he said, “I feel the most comfortable when I’m around people who are not thinking like I’m thinking.

“We need people from different backgrounds, different geographical areas, who’ve gone to different schools, and have different skill sets and talents. One talent is not better than another,” he added. “We can all add to this great nation of strength.”

One thing that has not changed, Stanley said, is the ability of military service, especially combat experience, to break down barriers between people’s differences.

“One of the beauties I observed while serving -- even in an environment that was pretty tough, sometimes hostile -- when you are working side by side and people get to know you, that stuff falls down,” he said. “When they really get to know you, when their life depends on it, there’s no place for it. And they see it.

“When you are working and protecting somebody’s back“ he added, “there’s no place for it.”