Dr. Robert M. Gates
I had the honor of attending the International Security Foundation (ISF) 11th Annual Dinner on Wednesday, November 16. ISF raised over $1,000,000 to support security education programming for the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) created by George Shultz, the Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan to create a public/private force multiplier to protect and defend the lives and assets of America and its allies. According to ISF, following the bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, (1983) in which 241 Marines were killed, Shultz, a former Marine and then Secretary of State, made a bold decision. To address growing global security threats, the U.S. government needed to collaborate with the private sector to ensure the safety of all Americans working and living abroad. His transformative idea became the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), a groundbreaking public-private partnership to provide vital information exchanges and best-practice security measures to the OSAC and global security communities.
At the ISF dinner, the keynote speaker was Dr. Robert M. Gates, the only Secretary of Defense in U.S. history to be asked to remain in office by a newly elected President. He served eight presidents from both parties on the National Security Council. He would later receive from President Barack Obama the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
National Building Museum
Dr. Gates stood in front of a packed ballroom at the National Building Museum, an august and beautiful venue that ISF has used in the past. He was somber. He had lived through many wars, including the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. He developed a love for the soldiers that he would confess would begin to impact his judgement. Love does that.
He would transparently share his disgust over the selfish, feeble battles of Congress that constrained needed funding to safeguard our soldiers. (Which continues to this day) He underlined the unpredictability of war and noted that they are far easier to enter into then get out of. He scolded those who believe technology will make it easier, faster, cheaper to conduct wars when they are becoming longer, more complex, and more dangerous.
But what really stuck in my gut was his reflection on Madeline Albright, Secretary of State under Clinton in 1997. She believed that America was indispensable to global peace and progress. This led Albright to support military action against Iraq in 1998 and Serbia in 1999 and support the eastern expansion of NATO.
But that was not, I believe, the thread that Dr. Gates was attempting to pull. Put in context of the man’s legacy and his keynote persona, it felt he was struggling with an America adrift. (A “mess” he said). He continued to juxtapose the promise of America with the fragility and brokenness of humans and their leaders. At one point a woman approached him at a dinner after his appointment to Secretary of Defense was announced. “For God’s sake”, she said. “Please bring my sons home.”
The “broken dreams and the shattered lives” from wars that we cannot seem to end have given this elderly statesman a heart for those that have given the ultimate sacrifice.
So back to Madeline Albright. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps America is indispensable. But only if America is willing to live out its core values sacrificially. (Citizen representatives to our Senate and Congress please take note) This is the Great Conversation of humankind. Will humankind evolve out of its hubris, fear, and greed? And will America be a light for those who want to walk on that path to value.