Leading United States Central Command - with General Frank McKenzie

SpyCast

Summary

General Frank McKenzie (Biography, LinkedIn) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss his new book, The Melting Point. General McKenzie was the 14th commander of the United States Central Command.

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

• Combatant commands and their purpose
• Leading CENTCOM, Central Command
• The role of intelligence in military leadership
• The US withdrawal from Afghanistan

Reflections

• Learning from the lessons of history
• The importance and impact of leadership

And much, much more …

Quotes of the Week

“What that leads you to is really, intelligence. It paints that picture and it describes the operational environment within which you can operate. So here's the risk. If you're an aggressive commander … There's a temptation to lean on intelligence to tell you what you want to hear, shape the information … In the back of your mind, you need to recognize, you can't go into it with what I would call confirmation bias.” – General Frank McKenzie.

Resources

SURFACE SKIM

*Spotlight Resource*

• The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century, Kenneth F. McKenzie (Naval Institute Press, 2024)

*SpyCasts*

• CIA Director, Defense Secretary, Gentleman with Leon Panetta (2024)
• David Petraeus on Ukraine & Intelligence with the former CIA Director & 4* General (2023)
• Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy with Michael Vickers (2023)
• Irregular Warfare & Intelligence with IWC Director Dennis Walters (2023)

*Beginner Resources*

• CENTCOM, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2024) [Encyclopedia entry]
• Why the Middle East is so important to the US, BBC World Service, YouTube (2024) [10 min. video]
• Combatant Commands, U.S. Department of Defense (n.d.) [Brief overviews of the 11 Unified Combatant Commands]

DEEPER DIVE

Primary Sources

• Retirement Ceremony Honors CENTCOM Commander (2022)
• U.S. Central Command Statement on the Realignment of the State of Israel (2021)
• Memorandum Re: January 2020 Airstrike in Iraq Against Qassem Soleimani (2020)
• Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan (2020)
• Remarks by President Trump on the Death of ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (2019)
• Goldwater-Nichols Act (1986)

*Wildcard Resource*

• Letter from Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant (1863)
• In this famous letter, Lincoln congratulates Major General Grant on his leadership during the Siege of Vicksburg, a critical success for the Union army. Perhaps not often done by a president, Lincoln here admits his strategy was wrong, and praises the intellect and military prowess of Grant.

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