WHERE IS THE MILITARY-POLITICAL RUBICON?

摘要

You midshipmen are the best and the brightest America has to offer." This quote from a Forrestal Lecture ran through my head as I awaited my chance to ask a question at the October conference cosponsored by the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Naval Institute. The panel-former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Bob Woodward, Admiral Gary Roughead (Retired), and Vice Admiral Robert Harward (Retired)-constituted the most impressive group of speakers in Academy history to discuss the topic of whether and how military members should involve themselves in politics, and 1 would be damned if I did not at least try to ask something. At first 1 could not remember which speaker had said we were the best and brightest, but then it struck me. They had all said that. I am sure the same is true for every visitor to West Point and the Air Force Academy, whether it's a senator, the Secretary of the Army, or a last-second stand-in speaker. All lecturers open their speeches with some version of the same compliment.