Watch Defense Secretary James Mattis’ address from the 2018 US Naval War College graduation ceremony in Newport, R.I. This footage is courtesy of the US Defense Department. Check out our exclusive series of interviews from the Naval War College at https://defaeroreport.com/category/us-naval-war-college-2018/.
And read the full transcript of his speech here:
“Well thank you Admiral Harley, distinguished guests, those of you who took time to attend today. You’re most welcome here. Very significant day I would say for our forces and for those of our allies and our partners on this beautiful, sunny, picture perfect day. I say that with no tongue in cheek since any day outside Washington DC is sunny for me. I believe it, it probably adds seven years to my life to be with you today.
And for you mothers here who’ve got young ones who are yelling out a little bit, please stay in your seats, whatever your little ones say can only add to the intellectual content of my remarks. So no problem at all, those little ones are a reminder of why we do what we do here at the Naval War College, and I would also tell you, yeah they really are, aren’t they?
But congratulations to all of you graduates on your achievements here today, and to the families that stood by you as you burned the midnight oil here in a school known for its intellectual rigor. I would tell you that having tried unsuccessfully several times in my career to make the cut to attend one of the schools, I felt to say the least, a little bit humbled when I got the invitation, and surprised. I attribute that to the professional courtesy of your president here, because I owe him a lot, and in the Naval service we do not forget the debt that we owe to our shipmates. So thank you, Admiral, for inviting me up here, you helped to get me out of every jam that I got us into.
But it is an honor to be with you because I couldn’t make the cut, so obviously I come here with a certain amount of envy of those those of you who got the benefit of this great education up here. And I would just tell you that we expect that as you turn to a fresh page in your lives, that you’re at the top of your mental, physical, and spiritual game. You’ve had a year to refresh, to learn from each other, and a superb faculty, and I think your education will continue even after you leave here along the lines, of what we just heard our Chaplain pray for, that we continue to go forward and meet these challenges that surely wait us.
Admiral Stephen Luce, when he founded the college on this rocky shore so many years ago, I think it was about 134 years ago, he wanted a light house for leaders. A lighthouse where they could exchange ideas and broaden their perspectives and thus illuminate the path ahead for generations to come. And we saw it start immediately, certainly within Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan’s lectures on sea power, that served as the foundation for maritime strategy and shaping naval thought for decades and decades to come. Captain Charles Stockton, he came here, he added to that legacy when he developed the first code for international law for naval operations, which became the basis for our modern law of naval warfare. And certainly when we saw this campus exercise its intellectual prowess, helping to develop the rainbow plans of the 1930’s and preparing its students for the challenges to come. (clearing throat) That’s what you get when you testify too often in front of Congress by the way. But in the words of Admiral Chester Nimitz he said, “Nothing he encountered in the Pacific during the war “was either strange or unexpected, “for this campus had prepared him well.”
I’m very confident. Thank you very much. If this was vodka, it would be a lot better speech. But I’m not supposed to glamorize alcohol anymore, so you young folks, you ignore what I just said. I am confident that you’re going to carry forward that legacy of what those officers found here, or brought to this school as you take your intellectual firepower forward and tackle the security problems of our time. Because “we are witnessing a world awash in change,” as former Secretary of State, George Schultz described it. “A world beset by the re-emerged “of great power competition,” and we define the categories of challenges in the following way, urgency, and power, and will, political will.
First on urgency, we see it epitomized by the North Korea situation, as well as by the threat from violent extremist organizations, two very, very different challenges that have our ongoing attention. Certainly President Trump’s historic summit with North Korea leader, Kim Jong-un, proves and I quote here, “The past does not have to define the future”, unquote. But while a possible new avenue to peace now exists with North Korea, we remain vigilant regarding pursuit of nuclear weapons anywhere in the world. And meanwhile half a world away, and despite our international coalition’s significant success against ISIS’ geographic caliphate, extremist organizations continue to sow hatred in the mid-east, and murder innocents around the world from Europe and Africa, to South Asia and the Sulu Sea. It is the urgency of this fight that compels us all to act decisively against terrorism, denying terrorists the safe haven they seek, and we carry out this counter-terrorism campaign, by, with, and through our allies and partners, with over 70 nations united in the defeat ISIS campaign, and 41 nations united under NATO’s flag to defeat terrorism in Afghanistan.
The second category of competition is military power, and we see the Russian Federation as the nation closest to us in nuclear parity, and proven willing to use conventional and irregular power in violation of international norms. For the first time since World War II, Russia has been the nation that has redrawn international borders by force of arms, in Georgia and Ukraine, while pursuing veto authority over their neighbors diplomatic, economic, and security decisions. Putin seeks to shatter NATO. He aims to diminish the appeal of the western democratic model and attempts to undermine America’s moral authority. His actions are designed not to challenge our arms at this point, but to undercut and compromise our belief in our ideals.
The third category is that of political will and that is a potential rivalry, with China harboring long-term designs to rewrite the existing global order. The Ming dynasty appears to be their model, albeit in a more muscular manner, demanding other nations become tribute states kowtowing to Beijing. Espousing one belt, one road, when this diverse world has many belts and many roads. And attempting to replicate on the international stage their authoritarian domestic model. Militarizing south China Sea features, while using predatory economics of piling massive debt on others.
After WWII, our greatest generation in collaboration with our allies and partners, built the open international order that has benefited global prosperity. It’s unrealistic to believe today that China will not seek to replicate its internal authoritarian model elsewhere as it expands globally. China has benefited enormously from the open international order but it had no say in drafting it. Today how we engage with China, and how the Chinese choose to collaborate, vice-dictate to the world, will provide the roadmap for our future relationship. In response to these competitive challenges of urgency, power, and will, this last January, our Department of Defense released it’s first National Defense Strategy in over a decade, and this filled a vacuum, one of strategy free actions.
To protect America’s experiment in democracy our National Defense Strategy has three lines of effort. First we are building a more lethal force. Our adversaries must know, work with our diplomats and within the international order, for if you threaten our experiment in democracy it will be your longest and worst day.
Second, we are strengthening our military alliances and building new partnerships for history is clear. Nations with allies thrive. Every allied and partner nation officer here today brings value.
The third line of effort is we are reforming and modernizing the Department of Defense for greater performance, accountability, and affordability, ensuring that we earn the trust of Congress and the American people. We have an obligation to spend wisely every tax dollar entrusted to us, while adapting our department to tomorrow’s security challenges. And this is to preclude us from being dominant yet irrelevant, because we didn’t adapt in the tradition of the Naval War College in the end of war years.
In support of these lines of institution — excuse me, these lines of effort — this institution has embraced the ever-changing character of warfare. Updating your curriculum to reflect the strategic environment of today, and more importantly of tomorrow. If we are to uphold a rules-based order for the international community, one beneficial to all, military leaders must embrace the ethos of a fighting admiral as defined by William Tuohy, describing an approach to war fighting in all domains.
A fighting Admiral is the ultimate embodiment of an adroit leader possessing an eagerness to close with the enemy an unflappable ability to execute operations in the heat and confusion of battle, and the power to instill a fighting spirit in those under their command. After the year here, we expect you to be at the top of your game, mentally, physically, and spiritually, and to work to maintain that standard throughout the rest of your career. You now have the credentials to measure up in the crucible of combat, and your character must do the rest. Your education here has prepared you well to integrate naval, joint, and coalition campaigns across all domains, air, land, sea, and now the contested war fighting domains of outer space and cyber-space. We are counting on you graduates to live and breathe this fighting admiral ethos regardless of your rank or position, branch of service, or nationality.
Don’t shy away from the hard problems and even tougher solutions by saying that something is above your pay-grade. Your nations and services did not invest a precious year of the finest education possible for you to take a timid view of your leadership responsibility. Keep your wits about you. Keep your grace under fire, your civility with subordinates, inspiring those you lead with humility and intellectual rigor, and reconciling war’s grim realities with your political leaders aspirations. As you take your next steps, put into action our line of effort of strengthening our alliances and partnerships using you your initiative, remembering that not all the good ideas come from the nation with the most aircraft carriers.
Down in Washington, D.C., four statues stand in Lafayette Square overlooking the White House, and they are there as a reminder. These are statues of men who hailed from France, Poland, and Prussia, and they came, and I quote here from one of the monuments, “to offer their swords to the American Colonies, “serving as fellow laborers in the cause for liberty “during our Revolutionary War.” These four men, Lafayette, Rochambeau, Kosciuszko, and von Steuben serve as reminders, just as this War College student body does today, that America does not stand alone.
No single nation resolves security challenges in this world. For all the times that I was privileged to fight for America, I never fought in a solely American formation as a US Marine. And seldom if ever will you, in your future leadership roles, shall find you carrying out your mission without communication and collaboration across national lines, for your ability to build trust and harmony will be as critical to victory as your operational ability. So as you depart this year of study and new found friends remember you are your nation’s unconventional ambassadors, strengthening relationships in every interaction with allies and partners.
The War College has prepared you well for this endeavor with 66 foreign nations, nearly 20% of the student body, represented here today. So carry these relationships forward, reinforce them while forging new ones, for by knowing how to fight well together, you strengthen deterrence, and help to hold onto peace for one more year, one more month, one more week, one more day, as our diplomats work to solve problems.
In closing I want to venture back to the college’s earliest days, when Admiral Luce laid out his admittedly lofty expectations for this new institution. He said, “if attendance here will serve “to broaden an officers views, extend his mental horizon “on national and international questions, “and give him a just appreciation of a great variety “and extent of the requirements of his profession, “the college will not have existed in vain.” You graduates now must give proof that Admiral Luce’s vision was not in vain for you carry our hopes, you fine young graduates of many nations, for a better world. And I am confident that thanks to Admiral Harley and his Newport team, you are primed to meet the many challenges that lie ahead.
Congratulations to all of you and thank you again for allowing me to take part today.”
