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One bell rang and the moderator started the introduction of former Secretary Rumsfeld on time.
Moderator: “Good morning.
My name is LCDR Simon Hwang, class 12-02 staff group 2 Alpha. This presentation is for attribution.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is honor for us to have a distinguished guest speaker today. Former Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Former Secretary Rumsfeld was both the 13th and 21st U.S. Secretary of Defense. He is also a former naval aviator.
Former Secretary Rumsfeld previously served as U.S. Congressman, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, White House Chief of Staff, Special Presidential Envoy to the Middle East, and chief executive officer of two Fortune 500 companies.
Former Secretary Rumsfeld attended Princeton University (B.A., 1954) on Naval ROTC scholarship. He served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57), and was all-Navy wrestling champion and he retired as a captain in the Navy Reserve.
He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois in 1962, at the age of 30. He resigned his fourth term in 1969 to join President Nixon’s Cabinet, where he served successively as the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, Director of the Economic Stabilization Program, and U.S. Ambassador to NATO.
In August 1974, he was called back to Washington, DC to chair the transition to the Presidency of Gerald R. Ford. He later served as White House Chief of Staff and a member of the Cabinet (1974-1975), and as the 13th U.S. Secretary of Defense, he was the youngest in the country’s history (1975-1977).
Former Secretary Rumsfeld was appointed Secretary of Defense for the second time in January 2001 by President George W. Bush and held the post until 2006.
Since 2006, former Secretary Rumsfeld has written a book “Known and Unknown.” Proceeds from the book sale will go to military charities.
Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Former Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.”
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Former Secretary Rumsfeld walked into the stage.
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After a brief introduction on why he is here, he began his speech. The speech lasted around 15 minutes.
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Moderator: “Sir, as your moderator, I have the honor of asking the first question.”
Secretary Rumsfeld: “Why do you get to ask questions? Who told you that?”
Crowd laughed.
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Moderator: “Sir, we have studied about civil-military relations in our classes. What advice would you give a future SECDEF on working with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the combined chiefs of staff of the services?”
Former Secretary Rumsfeld responded the importance of having various ideals and views. He also said that knowing the strengths and weaknesses of people are important.
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Questions from the audience started. On one of the questions, Former Secretary Rumsfeld mentioned the Rumsfeld rule. Details of Rumsfeld rule can be found in his website (http://www.rumsfeld.com/)
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An audience member asked about an important character of a president. Former Secretary Rumsfeld mentioned that no one can be fully ready for the position. Former Secretary Rumsfeld mentioned that when he went to Washington, DC. He thought he knew the government since he studied government, been a Congressman, and worked in the executive branch. He said there is no perfect president and it takes time for a president to learn to be a head of an executive branch.
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Questions kept coming from left and right. Moderator announced that there may be time for a few more questions. Former Secretary Rumsfeld joked “only two more questions? Why?”
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Former Secretary Rumsfeld wanted to take one more question. The last question was about his relationship with General Shinseki. Former Secretary said he does not have a bad relationship with General Shinseki at all. It’s the media that portrayed it that way. He said General Shinseki mentioned 200-300,000 troops because Congress asked him to come up with a number during a Congressional testimony.
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Former Secretary Rumsfeld ended answering his last question and turned to the moderator. He said “Now, Simon, that’s the last question.” With that audience stood up and cheered as he exited the stage.
LCDR Simon Hwang, ILE Student, SG2A
14 Comments on "Former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld addresses CGSC"
Like many of my fellow classmates and peers, I looked forward to the opportunity to listen to former SECDEF Rumsfeld. Regardless of one’s political affiliations, there is no denying the fact that Don Rumsfeld played a major part in US History. I was somewhat skeptical though. I was concerned it would be an opportunity for the previous administration to defend its policies and decisions. Obviously my concerns were for nothing as Mr. Rumsfeld was incredibly candid with the audience, both in his presentation and during the question and answers.
My biggest take away from his discussion was the point about leadership results. Secretary Rumsfeld encouraged us NOT to confuse leadership success with leadership genius. Sometimes, reflect on a leader’s past achievements can cause one to believe that the leader foresaw every conceivable pitfall and planned accordingly. We know that this seldom, if ever, the case.
As leaders, our job is set the vision and lead our staff’s to prepare thorough plans. However, we must be intellectually honest enough to know that we don’t have the time nor intellectual foresight to see every conceivable pothole. We must trust in our, and our subordinates, abilities to call audibles when required.
Finally, we must also keep in mind that in the end, war fighting (and leadership for that matter) is not a two-player chess match (one side against another). In reality, war fighting is at the very least, a three-player chess match in which the friendly, the enemy, and destiny each have a play.
Secretary Rumsfeld, while not the most engaging speaker we have had his year, was certainly one of the most candid and knowledgeable (with respect to national policy issues) that I have seen in a while. Having served his nation is a myriad of different government positions in administrations from President Ford to President George W. Bush, I must admit that I was a bit disappointed at the line of questions that the CGSC student body had to throw at him. Personally, I thought the question concerning ‘what the next threat to the nation might be’ was the most thought provoking that was asked. The ‘gotcha’ question in reference to GEN Shinseki I thought was a bit much from a group of mid-grade military officers at CGSC. The secretary has been grilled at many high-pressure press conferences in the past, and I was not surprised that he was not caught off guard in even the slightest. I am sure that he has even been asked the same question a time or two before. All in all, I was not disappointed in a man who has been the Secretary of Defense twice, first as the youngest SecDef, and then as the oldest.
I have to admit I did not know what to entirely expect from this guest speaker. After numerous publicized events during his time as Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush, I anticipated someone extremely direct, confrontational, somewhat arrogant, and extremely defensive about his record (specifically in Iraq and Afghanistan). To be completely honest, of all the guest speakers over the year this was the one I had the most mixed emotions about.
Fortunately, I was mistaken. While his directness was not a surprise, Former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld proved to be very intelligent, witty, charismatic and unexpectedly engaging. I initially anticipated a long dry narrative, followed by a brief, if none existent, period for questions. Instead, he was brief, entertaining, and very insightful. Unlike other guest speakers, I felt Secretary Rumsfeld touched on issues relevant to CGSC students.
Because I intially expected some defensiveness on his part, I was very surprised Secretary Rumsfeld opened up to such a long Q&A session. Despite the quality and relevance of some of the questions; his responses were frank, candid, and appeared to be well-received by the audience. While he may not have answered all the questions, he definitely responded to all questions. Whether intentional or unintentional, I definitely believe he did one of the better jobs tying relevant insight into topics covered throughout the year in ILE.
Overall, it was a privilege to listen to an individual with such a vast amount of government and political experience. His disarming charm negated what I perceived was going to be a potentially hostile audience. Secretary Rumsfeld was definitely not what I expected. His certainly exceeded my expectations. I believe he was one of the top guest speakers to address Class 12-01.
I found the visit from former Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to be a very interesting and entertaining guest speaker engagement. His short personal comments, willingness to answer tough questions, and sharp witty responses were well-received and well worth the time invested. It was interesting to listen to an individual with such a vast amount of government experience and compare his recollection and first hand account to what the media had reported as the truth at the time. Mr. Rumsfeld had a compelling well-crafted narrative that told his side of the story regarding interactions with the military leadership and relationships with other civilian cabinet leaders specifically during the President Bush Administration. Since his visit I’ve read his most recent book where he again talks about numerous occasions the media ran with a story that was both unconfirmed and later proven untrue that dated all the way back to his days representing the 13th District of Illinois in the House of Representatives when he was only 30 years old. I get the impression that Mr. Rumsfeld learned very early in his political career to be cautious and maybe even a little distrusting of the media’s motivations and intentions, and so he is quick to set the record straight when he gets his opportunity. For me this drives home the basic point that we should wary of what we regard as factual and truthful based on what we read and watch. This lesson also applies to everything we heard from the Rumsfeld narrative. I also do not believe there is any government conspiracy here, or any malicious informational misdirection to cover up the truth. It is just a case of competing narratives.
I was pleasently surprised with this guest speaker event and it was not what I had anticipated. I think that Former Secretary Rumsfield was one of the better guest speakers that has addressed Class 12-01. Overall, he provided some great information. I also appreciated his wittiness, sense of humor, and candid responses to the questions fielded by the student audience. Of the questioins fielded, the one that stood out the most was his response regarding his relationship with GEN(R) Shinseki. I thought that his response was inciteful and definatley not what was depicted by the media.
Secretary Rumsfeld was disarming and witty during his talk, and he seemed delightfully frank and candid with his responses. He appeared to be excited about answering questions from the group and providing input. In this regard, it seems the class missed an opportunity to gain the honest perspective of an individual with a wealth of experience and insight. First, it seemed like some questions were designed to “catch” the Secretary or to root out a conspiracy theory. Second, other questions were focused at attributes of successful politicians (character of the President, attributes of a successful Sec Def) rather than at how military leaders could leverage and influence the political system. Lastly, questions addressed administration decisions concerning hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan which were lines of questioning that the Secretary has addressed on multiple occasions during other interviews. Overall, while his answers were interesting, because of the questions I was challenged to find their relevance within the current military officer’s sphere of influence. The notable exception was the question about which state worried him the most. This was an insightful question and allowed Sec Rumsfeld to provide a unique perspective on how to view threats by looking inward rather than outward. This is valuable advice to evaluate our own systems for capabilities and relevance rather than simply focusing on potential external threats. Secretary Rumsfeld was a great guest speaker who was open and engaging, his remarks were interesting and relevant to the current environment. It would have been beneficial to have additional time to allow him to discuss a broader range of issues applicable to military officers.
During the briefing, someone asked Mr. Rumsfeld what he thought the next greatest threat to the U.S. would be. According to Mr. Rumsfeld, instead of focusing on which country might be our next engagement, we should focus on intelligence. Considering that it is virtually impossible to predict the future, I think that was a very astute comment. It is imperative that we continue to find better ways to integrate intelligence among government agencies in order to mitigate risk. Although we have made leaps and bounds since 9/11, we need to continue to refine systems and continue to share intelligence with the organizations that work with us and next to us on the battlefield. In addition, we need to find better ways to consolidate the mass amounts of intelligence shared to turn it into actionable intelligence.
Former Secretary Rumsfeld’s talk exceeded my high expectations. His wit, coupled with his dizzying intellect offered the audience an extraordinary example of a polished and experienced statesman of the highest order. His candid insights into the national-level decisions that have so profoundly impacted our lives these past 10 years was extremely enlightening. Having possibly the most experienced Secretary of Defense in our Nation’s history speak at CGSC represented a rare opportunity for future leaders of Armed Forces to gain an appreciation on the challenges of strategic decision-making. By far the most rewarding experience of CGSC thus far!
Former Secretary Rumsfeld’s visit had a limited speech and focused more upon answers of questions that he was asked. The answers that were given were blunt and direct answers at times and gave answers that were more thought provoking on others. He talked about how government agencies need to look at the world and adapt to the world as it changes. He was talking about this when he was describing the changes in the Department of Defense when he first entered service and thought that other agencies should adapt to change rather than add another layer that seems to have occurred. He seemed to have thoughts about these changes but did not pass them on to the audience. He also talked about alliances, specifically NATO, and how the alliance was good for the time and should continue but there should be an emphasis on new alliances to include nations such as Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The question about future threats resulted in another answer that he did not focus on any one threat but to focus instead what kept him up at night and caused him worry. He talked about the need for greater, credible intelligence to give answers on what we should worry about. He also stated that the US should not become a more isolationist nation and that the calls to end aid to place such as Egypt was not in the best interest of the nation. We should continue to interact with other nations and continue our efforts to assist nations so we do not lose the connections that we have established.
He provided interesting and thought provoking answers to questions that he was asked. I think that he provided answers that he thought was in the best interest of the nations and challenged the audience to not fall back onto comfortable solutions that may have worked in the past. He wanted to focus on the future, look for answers that may require different approaches and what that may mean for future leaders in the military.
Former Secretary Rumsfeld offered great insight during his short presentation to our class that ties into our recent lessons on critical thinking and media relations. I thought he gave us insight on how media coverage can influence professional and personal relationships among our own staff- even at that executive level. The Former Secretary relayed his personal conversation with GEN (Ret) Shinseki and described how the media may skew story lines. He also noted that he never “refused” to attend a farewell event -This is a great example of taking a step back and thinking about media sources and determining its relevance.
Excellent presentation! Former Secretary Rumsfeld provided important and relevant insight into several topics that we have covered here in ILE.
Mr. Rumsfeld mentioned that our bureaucracies are outdated (most created immediately after World War II) and require updating but had offered no real recommendations or solutions for improvement. Given his history in government, it would have been nice if he had presented some of the lessons he learned in trying to change bureaucracies.
I also found Former Secretary Rumsfeld’s visit to be more than expected. When he was asked the question that we all knew was coming about troop strength during OIF, I felt that he did a decent job at explaining that it was the Combatant CDR who made the decision about appropriate strength and that the administration listened. He also clarified how General Shinseki was taken out of context when it was reported that he believed that there should have been more troops on ground. It appears to be a good lesson for all us about being clear when engaging with the media and especially about not commenting on items outside of our purview, as Former Secretary Rumseld alluded that Gen Shinseki had done. If nothing else, Former Secretary Rumsfeld brought a sharp wit and seasoned perspective to his presentation. It appears that we might have to question GEN Shinseki directly to see if he viewed the events surrounding his reported comments similarly.
This was an incredible time with this important, influential, and dynamic leader. Former Secretary Rumsfeld provided important and relevant insight into several topics that we have covered here in ILE. I greatly appreciated his views on creating strategic thinkers and the qualities/characteristics of United States Presidents.
Although he injected too many references to his current book, Secretary Rumsfeld was a breath of fresh air to the Guest Speaker Program. Instead of gratuitously patting us on the back, he drew back the curtain and allowed us to view the world as he sees it during points of our country’s history that impact us today.
Kudos to whoever arranged his visit.