Pricey 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 are actually the chief of probably the most highly effective army on the planet.
Slightly 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 individual get together. I have to let you know that I consider you must have instructed Donald Trump final fall that you possibly can not, in good conscience, settle for his supply.
However you probably did settle for it, and so I write to you right now not as a critic, however as a fellow American. I do know—as you do—that your success is important 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 sincere views.
I ship these ideas to you with out partisanship or ill-will: The time for that’s over. We dwell in harmful occasions and you can’t fail in your new duties. I’ve little interest in lecturing you about your private life, or your reported use of alcohol. I’ve been via such struggles myself, and I consider that even—maybe particularly—in difficult moments, you’ll select to method your new duties with each bodily and mental sobriety.
I labored in nationwide safety and protection affairs for almost 40 years, together with a quarter-century wherein my accountability was to teach American officers. I have no idea the best way to be a Secretary of Protection, however primarily based on my expertise, I’ve three suggestions for you that I hope will contribute to a profitable tenure main America’s army.
First, and most vital, I implore you to take heed to the women and men working for you who’ve served our nation. Listening is an indication of power, Mr. Secretary, not weak spot. Each unhealthy 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 a substitute of listening. (From your individual army days, you in all probability 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 won’t put their plans on pause when you get distracted by a superficial home tradition warfare.
You should have the ability of choice on nearly something that crosses your path, however you aren’t omniscient. You’re surrounded by a wealth of expertise and experience. Sure, among the individuals underneath you’ll not be completely happy in regards to 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 don’t seem to be the enemy. Hear them out.
Talking of enemies, it’s essential to cope with the truth that you’re getting into workplace with nearly no credibility together 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, particularly, and whereas they are going to deal with you with formal courtesy, make no mistake: These are onerous and harmful individuals who may 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 will need to cowl lots of distance with these opponents. Your earlier abilities as a public commentator might be of no assist and in reality will show counterproductive in such conditions. You can not bully and speechify your solution to respect with such individuals; they’re powerful in a method that can’t be countered with macho posturing or rants about DEI. The facile appeal that labored for you in public life might 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 received’t do you a lot good speaking to our allies, both.)
As an alternative, you can see that it’s essential 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 employees will have the ability to help you in methods you may not have thought of. 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 depart behind the type of rhetoric that introduced you to prominence. I do know that you simply gained this submit by being a loyal soldier for President Trump. The reality is that the majority Individuals—together with the Individuals who serve within the U.S. army—don’t actually care almost 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 right now, your fellow residents are trusting you with the lives of their youngsters. (“Thanks for giving us your son,” a basic instructed certainly one of my mates whose boy, such as you, went via ROTC. “We’ll take excellent care of him.”)
The remainder of us are trusting you with all our lives. You possibly can properly be the final particular person to talk to the president earlier than he decides to go to warfare—or considers utilizing nuclear weapons. Partisan attachments might be meaningless at such moments.
After I was barely 30 years previous, I suggested a Republican senator who was making an attempt to resolve whether or not to assist President George H.W. Bush’s 1990 choice to go to warfare 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 Individuals into battle.
You’ll face selections galactically larger than my one small second with my boss 35 years in the past. Some selections you make will really feel small to you, however they are going to have an effect on tons of of 1000’s of individuals within the army neighborhood, and others will dwell 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 tens of millions—or maybe billions—now depend upon stuff you say that nobody however the president may hear.
You’re a man of religion, Mr. Secretary. We have now that in widespread. And so I’ll shut with my honest want that the Lord maintain you and information you within the days to come back.