Admiral Mike Mullen on the State of Civil-Military Relations

Admiral (ret.) Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents Bush and Obama, joins the podcast for a discussion of his experiences serving at the highest levels of civilian and military leadership. Admiral Mullen reflects on his role in repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (the military’s controversial ban on openly gay and lesbian service-members), his public outreach as Chairman, and his opinions of the men and women with whom he served.

This podcast is in no way intended to reflect the official positions of the Department of Defense or any other military entity.

Credits:

Thomas Krasnican, host

Nick Paraiso, host

Haz Yano, engineer and producer

Alec MacMillen, engineer and producer

Sarah Claudy, creative consultant

Aishwarya Kumar, production support

Mary Martha Maclay, production support

Notes:

- The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the principal military advisor to the President, and the highest ranking officer in the U.S. armed forces. However, he/she doesn’t have operational command of troops.

- A “flag officer” is any general or admiral in the armed forces. There are four levels of flag officer, each corresponding with a star that is worn on the officer’s rank insignia.

- The “CNO” is the Chief of Naval Operations. The CNO is the administrative head of the U.S. Navy, but like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, does not have operational command authority.