NATO Admiral needs friends

One of the amusing stories told by SACEUR, Admiral James Stavridis, in this TED talk a month ago and the introduction says:

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Imagine global security driven by collaboration -- among agencies, government, the private sector and the public. That's not just the distant hope of open-source fans, it's the vision of James Stavridis, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander of the US European Command. Stavridis shares vivid moments from recent military history to explain why security of the future should be built with bridges rather than walls.

What will 21st-century security look like? Navy Admiral James Stavridis suggests that dialogue and openness will be the game-changers

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Hat tip to Zenpundit drawing attention to this.

This is quote is quite slick:

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The six largest nations in the world in descending order: China, India, Facebook, the United States, Twitter, and Indonesia.

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Best of all:

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We are excellent at launching Tomahawk missiles … we need to get better at launching ideas.

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Interesting talk and for once amongst the comments some good points, notably on Wikileaks.

Link:http://www.ted.com/talks/james_stavr..._security.html

Admiral Stavridis in my opinion is one of our military's great thought leaders. The military pays the price more than anyone else for failed foreign policies, so those who care like the ADM think deeply about how to solve problems and come up with visionary ideas. Military leaders have limited power to force compliance, experimentation, etc. outside the military, and unfortunately I see little evidence of big thinkers in our other government agencies. We need guys like the ADM in the National Security Staff so their ideas can be put into action.