“…Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” Jesus of Nazareth in Luke 12:48b

As a shavetail lieutenant, my position required that I secure a Top-Secret clearance. As I have a somewhat colorful past, I was concerned about making it through the investigation process. But since I told them the truth up front, they were not surprised when they came across the random skeleton or two…or three. I was quite excited when I was finally allowed behind the “green-door." After reading about a million pages explaining how to handle classified material, including a large section devoted to the penalties of divulging national secrets, I signed on several dotted lines and was granted access. 

        What a let-down. I expected more exiting information. But hey, I was just a Second-Lieutenant and in the Army you start small. As my career progressed, I gained more responsibility and earned more trust, and the stakes grew higher and the information much more sensitive. I also learned a great deal about the systems we use to keep our secrets and why they are so important. Eventually towards the end of my career, I worked at very high levels requiring detailed excursions into my background to ensure that I was indeed trustworthy. To whom much is given, much is required. That is why the recent leak and ensuing chaos grieves me so.

This failure reveals significant problems within the current administration. When we circumvent the clearance granting system and the associated investigations, we assume great risk. This failure reveals three problem areas.

First, when we hire inexperienced and untrained individuals, they often make mistakes. As an inexperienced lieutenant, I had no idea about the complexity of how we gather, investigate, protect, and exploit sensitive information. Understanding how the various levels of classification interact and the human, physical, and automated systems we use to both disseminate and protect sensitive information takes time. Individuals with no experience must willingly take the time to learn how all this works, and accept the guidance of more experienced individuals.

Second, when we grant prideful individuals access, we assume great risk. Hubris leads individuals to believe that they know better. Our current cultural milieu tends to disdain education and experience. Large swaths of our society disregard not only those with more training and experience but the process of gaining knowledge and understanding. Disrespect for the systems, processes, and procedures leads to taking shortcuts and inevitable mistakes. In the realm of national defense and shortcuts and mistakes lead to lost opportunities and lives. An enemy just knowing that we know puts lives in peril. In this arena, we must take long-term goals and objectives into account.

  Third, people in leadership must act responsibly. If our overarching objective is to tear down and destroy without a clear picture of what the new looks like, then we often ruin things that we truly want to keep. Reductions in force may be a necessary and laudable goal, but great responsibility requires the ability to manage a variety of often competing requirements. Understanding this and making appropriate and responsible decisions takes intellectual and emotional maturity; traits normally born out of long experience.  Those who are simply infatuated with the exercise of power often take steps or shortcuts which do not serve our nation well. 

This world is a dangerous and complicated place. Understanding how to best use and leverage our enormous power takes great wisdom. Simply swaggering around and assuming that you know better because of a title granted not from experience, but from political expedience, does not serve the nation well. A myopic viewpoint which acts without careful consideration misses opportunities and frequently embraces vulnerabilities through impetuousness. Those in positions of power and leadership must forgo arrogant belligerence and assuming that they know better simply because they express disdain for those and what came before. Positions of great responsibility and power require teachable leaders equipped with wisdom and patience. Positions, such as the Secretary of Defense, require much more than simple fealty to the president and a desire to raze things to the ground. We need thoughtful men and women who not only seek to implement the President’s agenda but also keep the nation’s safety in mind.