Conversation with Mike Allen and General Mark Milley
Axios
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Jul 15, 2024
Axios co-founder Mike Allen and former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Gen. Mark Milley talk about the changing character of war and the impact of the latest emerging technologies on the global defense landscape at Axios' Future of Defense newsletter launch event.
Transcript
- 0:00
- introducing to the stage axio co-founder
- Mike
- Allen
- [Applause]
- morning good morning I'm axio co-founder
- Mike Allen welcome to the debut event
- for axio future of Defense we so
- appreciate your coming thank you for
- coming for on a tough morning uh in DC
- uh we're very excited about this event
- this is a line of coverage that my
- co-founders Jim vahi or axio CEO and Roy
- Schwarz have been thinking about for a
- long time and we found the perfect
- reporter Colin demerest who you'll meet
- in a bit right down front uh who's been
- 0:39
- covering defense back uh to his days as
- 0:41
- a pup in at the aen South Carolina
- 0:44
- standard uh part of the Charleston uh
- 0:46
- paper and as Jim and I were talking
- 0:48
- about people who might carry the torch
- 0:51
- for future of Defense we were so happy
- 0:53
- to be able to uh grab colins so the
- 0:56
- future of Defense uh newsletter uh debut
- 0:58
- dropped yesterday it'll be in your inbox
- 1:01
- every Wednesday morning right um and so
- 1:05
- just head over to axios.com
- 1:07
- newsletters and you can get the future
- 1:09
- of Defense uh we'd like to thank uh ge
- 1:12
- Aerospace for making today's event
- 1:14
- possible and the incredible axios events
- 1:17
- team so they had a double header they
- 1:19
- had an event last night and uh this team
- 1:23
- is amazing and including Sarah kale
- 1:25
- hingu and the editorial events team uh
- 1:28
- I've been honored to do events around
- 1:30
- the world with this team they're always
- 1:32
- Flawless so uh appreciate them and
- 1:36
- appreciate you our first guest was the
- 1:39
- 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
- 1:42
- Staff which is the nation's highest
- 1:43
- ranking military officer principal
- 1:46
- adviser to the president the Secretary
- 1:48
- of Defense uh the National Security
- 1:51
- adviser he was Army Roc at Princeton
- 1:54
- Massachusetts native still likes Boston
- 1:57
- guys has masters from Colombia the US
- 1:59
- Navy War College uh educated at also
- 2:03
- trained at MIT 24 moves he and his wife
- 2:07
- did around the world including Korea
- 2:09
- when he was in the Army next year he
- 2:12
- will celebrate 40 years with his wife
- 2:15
- welcome to the axio stage General Mark
- 2:18
- Millie General
- 2:23
- Millie General Milly love your walk- on
- 2:26
- music very nice it's all very good uh
- 2:29
- welcome checked that newsletter I just
- 2:30
- want to make sure it's free the you
- 2:33
- you've got an ironed uh golden copy on
- 2:35
- your doorstep has great uh General
- 2:38
- Millie what is the best part of being a
- 2:41
- civilian now that you are free sleep
- 2:44
- absolutely sleep um so no I I I think in
- 2:48
- my case we've got four grandchildren so
- 2:51
- uh time management the opportunity to
- 2:53
- spend some additional family time I
- 2:55
- think is probably the number one best
- 2:58
- advantage of being retired and after
- 3:00
- being the uh highest ranking military
- 3:03
- officer what do you miss most about
- 3:05
- having people kiss your
- 3:07
- ass well I wouldn't have put it that way
- 3:10
- Mike uh I don't think anyone ever did
- 3:12
- that actually to tell you the truth uh I
- 3:14
- think that what you have is a bunch of
- 3:16
- real professionals that are willing to
- 3:18
- speak truth to power and give you good
- 3:19
- analysis so I wouldn't have
- 3:21
- characterized it the way you did but
- 3:22
- thank you for doing that um now the part
- 3:25
- that uh you miss is the camaraderie and
- 3:27
- the uh and the and the and the folks
- 3:29
- that you with are great people and and
- 3:31
- that's probably the best part so General
- 3:34
- Millie you're a big part of why axios is
- 3:38
- uh investing in future of Defense
- 3:40
- coverage so you and I and Jim vahi sat
- 3:42
- down together and this is an area that
- 3:46
- you have been passionate about going
- 3:47
- about going back at least 15 years and
- 3:50
- we walked out of that breakfast and we
- 3:52
- said like the world is changing uh this
- 3:54
- is going to be important part of axios
- 3:56
- coverage General you've told me we're on
- 3:58
- the brink of the the most fundamental
- 4:01
- change in human history tell us what it
- 4:05
- is well most fundamental change in human
- 4:07
- history in the in what I call the
- 4:09
- character of War uh so you have to
- 4:11
- distinguish between the nature of War
- 4:13
- and the character of war the nature of
- 4:15
- war is what uh cluso talks about right
- 4:17
- so uh it's a human activity it's a it's
- 4:20
- an act of politics uh where one side's
- 4:22
- trying to impose its uh political will
- 4:24
- on the other side by the use of
- 4:26
- organized violence um it involves fear
- 4:29
- and friction uh you're looking at a
- 4:32
- certain Dynamic uh between the people
- 4:35
- the government uh and it's and its
- 4:38
- military so that's the nature of war and
- 4:40
- that's probably immutable uh at least
- 4:42
- most people think human emotions are
- 4:44
- human emotions yeah so that's going to
- 4:45
- that's going to uh that's unlikely to
- 4:48
- change right but the character of War uh
- 4:51
- what you're talking about there uh are
- 4:53
- the tactics the doctrines the
- 4:55
- Technologies the weapon systems uh the
- 4:57
- leader training uh
- 5:00
- it's all of that it's the ways and means
- 5:01
- of warfare right um so that changes
- 5:04
- frequently so every time you get a new
- 5:06
- technology that changes um and
- 5:08
- historically it's changed many times
- 5:10
- over over over the years uh but
- 5:13
- fundamental Chang has only occurred once
- 5:15
- in a while and and and just uh to button
- 5:18
- that up a general an example you gave me
- 5:20
- of that is something as simple as
- 5:21
- putting a bit in a horse's mouth yeah
- 5:24
- that's right so so if you think
- 5:27
- historically uh and you go way back in
- 5:29
- time think about whenever somebody
- 5:32
- figured out how to put a bit in a
- 5:33
- horse's mouth and saddle a horse you had
- 5:35
- the development of Calvary when you went
- 5:37
- from a smooth warar musket to a rifle
- 5:40
- that fundamentally changed infantry
- 5:42
- tactics on a battlefield when you
- 5:43
- introduced mechanization and wheel and
- 5:46
- track vehicles the airplane wireless
- 5:48
- communication the radio rifling versus
- 5:50
- smooth boore right rifle smooth boore or
- 5:53
- the mechanization the 1920s and 30s
- 5:55
- these things changed the tactics the
- 5:57
- doctrines the organizations of the time
- 5:59
- and they fundamentally changeed the
- 6:01
- character of war and and that can be a
- 6:04
- big big huge thing so the 1920s and 30s
- 6:07
- for example uh with the introduction of
- 6:09
- tanks and and and and and wheeled
- 6:12
- vehicles uh the airplane uh radio
- 6:14
- communications to connect these two
- 6:16
- things you have the development of
- 6:17
- combined arms Warfare and and one
- 6:19
- country Nazi Germany developed them uh
- 6:22
- in a very sophisticated way uh and they
- 6:24
- developed an organization the pan of
- 6:25
- Grenadier divisions to uh implement this
- 6:28
- this Doctrine which we today call The
- 6:30
- Blitz cre which the Germans didn't call
- 6:32
- that Blitz creig back in the day they
- 6:34
- matched it to a German way of war and
- 6:36
- that allow allowed them or enabled them
- 6:38
- to overrun most of Europe in in 18
- 6:40
- months you know 30 miles from Moscow
- 6:42
- they went went into France the low
- 6:44
- countries Norway uh the Balkans Greece
- 6:47
- uh and so on uh and they did that very
- 6:49
- effectively very quickly uh and very
- 6:51
- violently so that the change in the
- 6:52
- character of War can have enormous uh
- 6:55
- not only tactical and operational
- 6:56
- consequences but strategic consequences
- 6:58
- uh we today
- 7:00
- in my view are in the most fundamental
- 7:03
- change with the introduction of
- 7:05
- precision Munitions the introduction of
- 7:06
- UIC sensors around the world uh every
- 7:10
- single iPhone out there GPS watch Fitbit
- 7:13
- thing all of those are sensors so the
- 7:15
- ability to see and the ability to hit at
- 7:17
- range with long range Precision fires
- 7:19
- and now increasing speed with hypersonic
- 7:21
- Munitions and then when you look at the
- 7:23
- ability uh to sustain with 3D printing
- 7:27
- uh you look at alternative fuels you
- 7:28
- look at all all this kind kind of stuff
- 7:29
- for sustainment uh but your your big
- 7:32
- ones your two big ones that are are are
- 7:34
- emerging very very rapidly is the
- 7:36
- introduction of robots uh which we've
- 7:39
- been using for quite some time with
- 7:41
- unmanned aial Vehicles drones as as they
- 7:43
- say uh but then combine them combine
- 7:46
- robots which will expand Beyond drones
- 7:49
- to a pilotless Air Force a sailor Navy a
- 7:52
- crewless tank which is coming uh you
- 7:54
- know in the next 10 15 years sort of
- 7:56
- thing combine that with the enormous
- 7:58
- power of Quantum Computing and
- 8:01
- artificial intelligence and you've got
- 8:03
- some real significant fundamental
- 8:07
- changes and all those Technologies are
- 8:09
- available to uh China Russia the United
- 8:12
- States and and many many other countries
- 8:15
- so the country that optimizes those
- 8:17
- Technologies for military use is going
- 8:20
- to have a very significant and
- 8:21
- potentially decisive Advantage uh in an
- 8:23
- armed conflict yeah General the phrase
- 8:25
- that you just used really sticks with
- 8:28
- the when you said the ability to see and
- 8:31
- strike with Precision at range like
- 8:33
- that's such a great way to say it and
- 8:35
- sticks in my mind now you've said AI is
- 8:38
- the mother of all Technologies right
- 8:40
- yeah I mean so you know the the full
- 8:44
- potential of AI is still theoretical
- 8:46
- it's not here yet uh but we're seeing it
- 8:49
- in the commercial sector uh very rapidly
- 8:52
- uh develop so the and and like all
- 8:55
- Technologies Technologies don't have
- 8:57
- morality right so Technologies can be
- 8:59
- either good or bad depending on how
- 9:01
- they're employed and used so uh so with
- 9:04
- artificial intelligence it's entirely
- 9:06
- possible to ingest all knowledge about
- 9:09
- medicine that's ever been produced in
- 9:11
- all of human history uh and for the AI
- 9:14
- to assist say a doctor to diagnose
- 9:18
- patients and it's entirely possible with
- 9:20
- the help of AI that you could have you
- 9:23
- know you could solve uh cancer or
- 9:26
- Dementia or Parkinson's or what whatever
- 9:29
- disease it is out there uh and you can
- 9:32
- make some really significant radical
- 9:33
- advances in medicine so that's to the
- 9:35
- good uh but but there's also the
- 9:38
- potential for artificial intelligence to
- 9:40
- be paired with lethal Munitions or or
- 9:43
- robots uh and then you've got a real
- 9:46
- significant ethical and moral issue on
- 9:47
- your hands uh with the potential for
- 9:50
- that to be used in a bad way right uh
- 9:53
- but artificial intelligence what it
- 9:54
- really will do in terms of the military
- 9:57
- it's going to assist command
- 10:00
- uh to rapidly and more effectively go
- 10:03
- through the decision-making cycle by
- 10:05
- ingesting massive amounts of information
- 10:08
- at rates of speed and and size and scale
- 10:10
- and scope that no human being could
- 10:12
- possibly match uh and they'll ability to
- 10:15
- make go through the observe Orient
- 10:17
- direct and act Loop faster relative to
- 10:20
- your enemy and the side that optimizes
- 10:22
- artificial intelligence for military use
- 10:25
- potentially uh because decision- making
- 10:27
- is so important in the conduct of
- 10:28
- military oper operations potentially
- 10:30
- could have a very very significant
- 10:31
- advantage in the conduct of War so it's
- 10:33
- a huge huge advantage in general I know
- 10:36
- you're very concerned about cyber
- 10:38
- misinfo disinfo sure yeah yeah so uh you
- 10:42
- know the the year a few years ago uh the
- 10:46
- US Military and I think most militaries
- 10:47
- today have expanded their their domains
- 10:50
- of War so the traditional domains were
- 10:54
- land and then someone figured out how to
- 10:55
- sail a boat so it became land and sea
- 10:58
- and then we figured out how to fly
- 10:59
- airplanes land C and air and then you
- 11:01
- know a couple decades ago uh with the
- 11:04
- development of the
- 11:05
- internet um you expanded into cyberspace
- 11:08
- and space physical space uh of course
- 11:11
- with with the space programs of the of
- 11:13
- the 1950s and 60s and so on uh so today
- 11:17
- uh the US military looks at and I think
- 11:19
- most militaries look at the domains of
- 11:21
- warfare uh as land sea air space and
- 11:25
- cyberspace and I would probably even add
- 11:28
- uh subsurface or sub Sea underwater um
- 11:31
- and and with cyber cyber is you know
- 11:35
- it's been around for a while you know if
- 11:37
- you think about artificial intelligence
- 11:38
- for example your very first use or even
- 11:41
- the name I think comes out of the 1950s
- 11:44
- uh but it's really coming into its own
- 11:46
- now and it's accelerating to the point
- 11:48
- where uh you're you're you're really
- 11:50
- getting a ubiquitous use of that
- 11:53
- technology over the next 10 to 15 years
- 11:56
- cyber similarly has been around for a
- 11:58
- while in internet daret all that it's
- 12:00
- been around for a bit but now it's it's
- 12:03
- ubiquitous it's in everybody's lives on
- 12:05
- a day-to-day basis uh so you will see
- 12:08
- cyber as being a really critical
- 12:12
- domain uh of future armed conflict to
- 12:15
- the point where Advanced nation states
- 12:19
- potentially could borrow into your
- 12:22
- infrastructure systems your electronic
- 12:24
- systems your financial systems uh your
- 12:26
- food supply your water supply Etc with
- 12:28
- cyber tools and that could be very
- 12:30
- disruptive it won't necessarily be
- 12:32
- totally destructive uh it may or may not
- 12:36
- destroy parts of a system uh destroying
- 12:39
- the entire system is actually more
- 12:40
- difficult than people may think but it
- 12:42
- will definitely be very deceptive and
- 12:44
- and that will be a a major component of
- 12:46
- any future armed conflict General you
- 12:48
- look 10 to 15 years down range you have
- 12:51
- an eye-opening prediction about the
- 12:54
- person power of the US military well I
- 12:57
- think the US military today
- 12:59
- uh is Far and Away still the most
- 13:02
- powerful capable lethal ready force of
- 13:05
- any military in the world that's not to
- 13:07
- say that the US military doesn't have
- 13:08
- challenges it has problems all that's
- 13:10
- all true that's true of any large
- 13:12
- organization but taken as a whole
- 13:14
- relative to other militaries uh the US
- 13:17
- military today is is extraordinary um
- 13:19
- and 10 to 15 years down the road now
- 13:22
- what the US military is going to need to
- 13:23
- do and and we've identified this inside
- 13:25
- the military uh we're going to have to
- 13:27
- shift gears here we're going to have to
- 13:29
- to recognize this change in the
- 13:30
- character of war and we're going to have
- 13:31
- to develop uh these systems and these
- 13:34
- organizations at a pace more rapper than
- 13:37
- your potential adversaries Russia China
- 13:39
- for example uh in order to optimize
- 13:41
- these capabilities for military use um
- 13:43
- and if we don't do that we'll be
- 13:45
- entering into an era of this change in
- 13:48
- the character of War uh with Legacy
- 13:50
- systems that were built for an
- 13:52
- industrial age when we're in fact in an
- 13:55
- information and even postinformation age
- 13:57
- we're in a digital age uh so we've we
- 13:59
- got to we've got to create organization
- 14:01
- systems tactics Doctrine train leaders
- 14:03
- recruit troops etc for this different
- 14:06
- era now you're not going
- 14:08
- to automatically eliminate things from
- 14:11
- from the past so there's still going to
- 14:13
- be tanks there's still going to be ships
- 14:15
- still going to be aircraft carriers
- 14:16
- still going to be manned aircraft in the
- 14:18
- future but we're talking about the the
- 14:20
- uh the balance the the the uh
- 14:22
- percentages of these things in the
- 14:24
- military force so I would say that say
- 14:27
- 10 15 years from now
- 14:29
- my guess is a third maybe 25% to a third
- 14:34
- of the US military will be robotic and
- 14:37
- will be uh and this is L CNA
- 14:40
- capabilities um and they'll be largely
- 14:43
- commanded and controlled and driven by
- 14:44
- AI enabled systems and will this be
- 14:47
- additive or you think onethird of
- 14:49
- today's Personnel will be replaced by
- 14:51
- robots that's hard to say in terms of
- 14:53
- the actual numbers of people sort of
- 14:55
- thing but it's going to be a notable
- 14:58
- swath I think yeah it'll be a big change
- 15:01
- it'll be a fundamental change um and I
- 15:03
- would I would argue that other nations
- 15:05
- militaries are going to be similarly
- 15:07
- designed um but I think you'll see the
- 15:10
- numbers of human troops right those will
- 15:13
- probably be reduced As you move towards
- 15:16
- robotic systems so like right now uh for
- 15:19
- example in the Middle East uh Central
- 15:22
- command's experimenting with with
- 15:24
- robotic Naval forces surface and
- 15:26
- subsurface uh the Air Force EXP
- 15:28
- experimenting with all kinds of uh
- 15:30
- unmanned uh fighter bomber uh type
- 15:33
- aircraft not just the the unmanned
- 15:35
- aerial vehicles that you see uh the Army
- 15:38
- and Marines are experimenting with uh
- 15:40
- unmanned tanks and smaller vehicles uh
- 15:43
- that that uh you know can be used on in
- 15:46
- ground combat uh but but this is not yet
- 15:49
- here uh in the scale and scope but it
- 15:52
- will be in 10 15 years or so Lisa is
- 15:56
- about to give me the hook but before
- 15:57
- General I ask you uh my last question
- 16:00
- Colin Demmer has a question just as a
- 16:02
- check uh uh on me just uh any news that
- 16:05
- we're making here so thank you Mike and
- 16:08
- thank you General am I on there we thank
- 16:11
- you Mike and thank you General you
- 16:12
- mentioned 25 to 30% of the military
- 16:14
- becoming robotic autonomous I think that
- 16:17
- begs the question should the human
- 16:19
- always stay in the loop always be in
- 16:21
- charge when it comes time to pull the
- 16:22
- trigger or kill and then how do you
- 16:24
- balance machine speed that might be
- 16:27
- needed with human ethics
- 16:29
- um great great question um and current
- 16:32
- US policy is that the human must stay in
- 16:35
- the loop for decision-making on the use
- 16:38
- of lethal Munitions uh now robotics can
- 16:42
- apply to non-lethal things like
- 16:44
- Logistics and convoys and supplies and
- 16:47
- so on uh but for for for lethal use US
- 16:50
- policy is currently the hum in the loop
- 16:54
- um and the the reason for that again
- 16:57
- Technologies don't have morality right
- 16:59
- they don't have uh at least today's
- 17:01
- Technologies don't have morality uh so
- 17:04
- the thought is that humans have some
- 17:06
- sort of moral or ethical uh methodology
- 17:10
- of decision-making so the human is in a
- 17:11
- loop um and and I would say that
- 17:14
- robotics in combination with AI and
- 17:17
- other Technologies uh that the question
- 17:19
- you ask is going to have to be debated
- 17:20
- and determined uh in the years to come
- 17:23
- in a very very serious way because
- 17:25
- there's very significant legal and
- 17:27
- ethical implications
- 17:29
- especially in the use of lethal
- 17:30
- Munitions when you start talking
- 17:32
- Robotics and machines and uh you you can
- 17:35
- imagine a future from a from a technical
- 17:37
- standpoint a machine with enabled by AI
- 17:41
- a robot enabled by AI could make its own
- 17:43
- decisions right um is that something
- 17:46
- that the world wants is that something
- 17:47
- the world's ready for uh have we
- 17:49
- designed the regimes and the rule sets
- 17:52
- uh for that kind of uh employment to
- 17:55
- force clearly not yet it's an open
- 17:57
- question I lean towards human in the
- 17:59
- loop that's current US policy but I
- 18:02
- think this is going to be something that
- 18:03
- people going to have to come to grips
- 18:04
- with here in the next decade or so good
- 18:07
- good question thank you and my did you
- 18:09
- have something else no you're good great
- 18:11
- close it up uh my uh last thing before
- 18:13
- he just said you're good I'll take
- 18:15
- it I'll take it uh uh my last question
- 18:19
- before one uh fun thing uh so General
- 18:21
- you're teaching it both Georgetown and
- 18:23
- Princeton you s really enjoyed that like
- 18:25
- made you optimistic as you talked to uh
- 18:28
- the students you don't do domestic
- 18:29
- politics but everywhere you go you're
- 18:31
- asked about uh the geopolitical uh
- 18:34
- situation and so as we look ahead to
- 18:36
- 20125 what do you think will be the
- 18:38
- biggest difference in overseas policy
- 18:41
- between a second Biden Administration
- 18:43
- versus a second Trump Administration
- 18:46
- well thanks Mike for a great opportunity
- 18:48
- to make no comment
- 18:50
- um
- 18:52
- so
- 18:54
- um got to love it and I volunteered to
- 18:57
- come here so um
- 19:00
- uh you know we're in an election season
- 19:02
- obviously a very intense and highly
- 19:03
- political season it would be very
- 19:05
- inappropriate for me to comment on
- 19:07
- either candidate um but look at you you
- 19:11
- from an overseas perspective from a
- 19:13
- national security perspective uh and
- 19:15
- from a policy perspective not from an
- 19:17
- individual candidate perspective you've
- 19:19
- got two versions of America's role in
- 19:23
- the world that play here and the
- 19:24
- American people are going to have to
- 19:26
- decide uh which version of America's
- 19:29
- role in the world you want so with one
- 19:31
- candidate you've got more or less a um
- 19:35
- what what I think foreign policy analyst
- 19:37
- might term as a a wilsonian foreign
- 19:40
- policy that dates back perhaps uh to the
- 19:43
- days of wood Will's 100 years or so
- 19:45
- where the United States enters World War
- 19:47
- I and fights in World War II and then
- 19:49
- since the end of World War II the United
- 19:52
- States has underwritten the so-called
- 19:54
- rules-based International order that was
- 19:56
- put in place at the end of the war in
- 19:58
- order to prevent uh a great power War uh
- 20:01
- it emphasized free trade it emphasized
- 20:03
- collective security a network of allies
- 20:06
- and partners around the world very
- 20:08
- bipartisan uh where debates stopped at
- 20:10
- the The Waters Edge kind of thing so
- 20:12
- that's one version one view where the
- 20:15
- United States is forward deployed very
- 20:17
- engaged in the world uh and and it's in
- 20:20
- some ways it's a values-based foreign
- 20:22
- policy which comes under criticism a lot
- 20:25
- U but but that's one version a second
- 20:28
- version
- 20:29
- uh dates back it's another strand of
- 20:31
- American History uh dates back a little
- 20:33
- bit further back into the
- 20:35
- 1800s it's a populist nationalist
- 20:38
- version uh and it comes out of things
- 20:40
- like Jackson and Williams Jenning Bryan
- 20:43
- you've seen it manifest itself with uh
- 20:45
- you know George Wallace you've seen it
- 20:47
- manifest itself throughout American
- 20:49
- history uh you know throughout our
- 20:51
- entire history going back and it's more
- 20:53
- internally focused it's it's more of a
- 20:56
- withdrawal from the world not not not a
- 20:58
- complete withdrawal it's not
- 21:00
- isolationism uh but it's a it's a it's a
- 21:03
- it leans towards bringing forces home
- 21:05
- and not being so engaged overseas um it
- 21:08
- it leans towards a transactional
- 21:10
- economic approach sort of thing um and
- 21:14
- it leads towards protectionism uh where
- 21:17
- you'll see things like uh you know the
- 21:19
- smooth Holly tariffs of the 1930s or or
- 21:22
- the 1828 tariffs those sort of things um
- 21:25
- it it's not necessarily uh about free
- 21:27
- trade as much as it is is protectionism
- 21:30
- um so there's two variants of this both
- 21:32
- of whom have manifested itself in
- 21:34
- American history very strongly at
- 21:36
- various times like almost like a scurve
- 21:38
- back and forth uh and they're both
- 21:40
- legitimate views for the American people
- 21:41
- to choose from so uh it's whatever the
- 21:44
- American people want when they when they
- 21:46
- go to the polls but that's kind of
- 21:47
- what's at play from a national security
- 21:49
- policy uh perspective staying out of the
- 21:51
- individual personalities of candidates
- 21:53
- but those are two big streams and the
- 21:57
- big question is what do you want uh as
- 22:00
- America's role in the world uh very
- 22:03
- fascinating uh super quick one for the
- 22:05
- road General you're just back from the
- 22:07
- anniversary of the D-Day Landings in
- 22:10
- Normandy France what was the most
- 22:12
- memorable image moment for you being uh
- 22:16
- in
- 22:17
- Normandy well for me normy's very
- 22:20
- special for a lot of reasons um you know
- 22:22
- as chief of Steph of the Army Major Army
- 22:25
- operation it's really combined arms
- 22:27
- operation with with the Allies there
- 22:29
- were um you know that a lot of people
- 22:32
- think it's just American British but
- 22:33
- it's American British French Canadian uh
- 22:36
- they were actually 28 Nations I think it
- 22:37
- was or 26 Nations that had troops in
- 22:40
- some manner shape or form in the Allied
- 22:41
- invasion of Normandy so it's a huge
- 22:44
- operation uh and for the US Army it's a
- 22:46
- very you know special part uh and and my
- 22:49
- uncle my father's brother uh was
- 22:52
- actually at Omaha Beach he was in the
- 22:54
- Navy in fact but he was part of the
- 22:56
- beach Master team that landed at Omaha
- 22:59
- Beach and directing troops you know go
- 23:00
- left go right that sort of thing um and
- 23:03
- and my dad uh was at cipan in June of
- 23:06
- 1944 with the fourth Marine Division so
- 23:09
- he was my dad was the oldest of 10 so my
- 23:12
- dad's hitting the beach in the Pacific
- 23:14
- in June 44 and his his brother his
- 23:16
- number two uh brother um he's hitting
- 23:19
- the beach at Oma Beach uh in Normandy so
- 23:21
- for me it's it's a personal thing and
- 23:24
- it's kind of a uh really U almost
- 23:27
- spiritual thing to go to Normandy walk
- 23:29
- the beach see the waves look at the sand
- 23:32
- and imagine that time uh for the nation
- 23:35
- though and for the Army it's it's a it's
- 23:37
- a massive strategic undertaking uh with
- 23:40
- high amounts of risk 156,000 troops went
- 23:43
- ashore either parachuted in the night
- 23:45
- before or landed with the amphibious
- 23:47
- Landing we had 195,000 or 200,000
- 23:51
- Sailors and 7,000 ships offshore I mean
- 23:54
- this was a massive undertaking uh that
- 23:57
- then LED finally led to to the uh to the
- 23:59
- ultimate defeat of Nazi Germany uh and
- 24:02
- this was a in my view uh you know we
- 24:05
- talk about the greatest
- 24:06
- Generation uh and this goes back to your
- 24:08
- for foreign policy question what's
- 24:10
- America about uh look we we liberated
- 24:13
- literally liberated uh France and and
- 24:16
- the rest of Europe uh at enormous cost
- 24:19
- in Blood and treasure uh and America
- 24:22
- when when I go over there uh I on this
- 24:24
- past trip I spent a fair amount of time
- 24:26
- at St Mary GLE and the French people
- 24:28
- people and many others there were
- 24:30
- belgians there and from other countries
- 24:32
- they have never forgotten the Goodwill
- 24:34
- of the American people the American
- 24:35
- Soldier uh and they've always remembered
- 24:37
- that and they treasure it uh and they
- 24:39
- celebrate it and the the degree of
- 24:41
- embracing of
- 24:43
- America you know as a result of World
- 24:46
- War II is enormous the second biggest
- 24:48
- thing is just talking to the veterans uh
- 24:50
- you know the greatest generation is
- 24:52
- passing quickly uh and the opportunity
- 24:55
- to engage with uh those Soldiers and
- 24:57
- Sailors and the folks that that
- 24:59
- participated in World War II and
- 25:01
- participated in the invasion Normy
- that's a very special thing for me
- incredible Legacy you're from an
- Incredible family General Mark Millie
- thank you for this conversation thanks M
- great conversation thank you very much
- General
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