Warrior Easy kicked off by a speech about General Michael Hayden (USAF, Ret). A career intelligence officer, he served as both Director, National Security Agency and Director, Central Intelligence Agency.
He put the world into a historical perspective, contrasting the Cold War-era with now. The world was more dangerous but certainly not as complicated as today. He also related that everything happens more quickly now.
He also discussed the transition form Hard to Soft Power in the post-Cold War world.
The threats are different; in the post-industrial-era, it’s less nation-states and more transnational groups.
The world has changed. One of General Hayden’s most poignant comments was, “Nations from the post-WWII world order are gone, and not coming back.” That really sunk in for me.
Another observation in a changed world, is that time was, the State was not the enforcer of theological principles. Everyone thought that. He said, “We may have been premature.”
General Hayden concentrated on leadership of complex organizations during times of crisis. He mentioned the need for leadership but he humbly submits that he is not the best qualified in the room to talk about leadership and asked the room to recognize Medal of Honor awardee Sal Giunta.
General Hayden has never been able to finish a book on management. He only gets about 1/3 through before he stops.
Instead, he offered these lessons learned:
-Humility, Real Humility
-More doing of the right things
-Doing only what leaders can do
-Truly loving your people
-Being true to your self
Interestingly, during the Q&A, General Hayden brought out an anti-2A concept in response to a question regarding the intelligence community’s duty to protect the nation while respecting the civil rights of its citizens. He said that it shouldn’t be as much a fourth amendment issue as a second amendment one and posed a new tactic to restrict ownership of firearms. His position is that the restriction of certain types of weapons should be seen as an anti-terrorism measure. This is an obvious expansion of current attempts by anti-2A legislators to deny due process and civil rights to those on the so-called ‘No-Fly’ list by making it illegal for them to exercise their right to purchase firearms. His viewpoint reminds me that not every threat to liberty is external. His final slide certainly sums it up.
