Has a tv station in libya, its a disaster. The before and during and after, tons of failures, hillary clinton, if she decides to run, hope the American People speak the truth. Thank you. Thank you very much, i appreciate it. [applause] you are watching booktv in prime time. A reminder that every weekend, but tv features 48 hours of nonfiction books beginning it 9 00 a. M. Eastern. Find us unlike us online at facebook. Com booktv. Here are some of our featured programs for this weekend on the expand networks. On cspan2 booktv saturday at 10 00 p. M. Eastern on after words, president of americans for tax reform grover west says that americans are tired of the irs and the tax system. Sunday night at 8 00 oclock susan butler on president sink when roosevelt and leader joseph stalin, allies during world war ii and their Unexpected Partnership beyond the war. And then on cspan3 lectures and history, university of Virginia College at wise professor Jennifer Murray on how civil war veterans reunions have changed. And then American History tv is live from the appomattox courthouse historical park, commemorating a coup the end of the civil war. This is booktv in prime time. Coming up next Bartholomew Sparrow talks about Brent Scowcroft and discusses the role played by the general and National Security and Diplomatic Affairs over his 30 year career. About one hour and a half. [applause] [inaudible conversations] at afternoon, everyone. I would like to welcome you to this afternoons session of the washington history seminar. For those of you that dont know, this mnr is a joint project of the Woodrow WilsonPublic Policy program and the American Historical AssociationNational History center. Hello, i am from George Washington university and im the cochair on behalf of the National History center of the seminar. As is custom, i want to thank the people who is this behindthescenes effort makes this seminar possible on a weekly basis. It is very logistical work that allows us to pull this off. I would also like to express thanks to the generous financial contribution and support support this activity. Todays speaker is Bartholomew Sparrow who is a professor of government at the university of texas. He is the author of multiple books including from the outside in the world war ii and the american state, and news media as a political institution. He has been a Woodrow Wilson center fellow and he is the recipient of the Franklyn Burdett award from the american Political Science association. Today he is going to be talking about his new book has been published by Public Affairs press and is called the strategists and the call of National Security. Thank you. Thank you for having me. A friend in washington is someone who stabs you in the chest. The irony is that he someone who has many friends. Its good to be back here in the Wilson Center and to be speaking at the offices of the National History center. My time in 2009 as a resident fellow was invaluable from making this project possible and i benefited from the intellectual environment and the many speakers and learning from the other researchers and administrators and staff. I would like to think roger lewis and the others who made this possible as well as pete in particular. And incidentally when i first considered what i would entitle the biography, there were few books. In the meantime these books are published with the same title. Another is a financial thriller and a nerd is advice on how to be the leader that your business needs. So much for planning. And what is interesting is that few in washington and around the country, let me start over, what is interesting is that many do not think that he has a strategy. That he is merely one of their advisors and National Security adviser to george h. W. Bush, and a longtime washington insider. And so for some the title may bring intuitive way. And so neither is he an abstract theorist in the manner of his claims and stages of growth. A world analyst in the matter of Henry Kissingers sweeping arguments and world order several of my interview subjects said they didnt especially think of him as a strategist. But one thing they regarded him as operating between the 40yard line. The u. S. And Foreign Policy officials alike including how they have spoken of his strategic sense. This is that he has kept this largely out of view and notably with the wall street journal in jordan with the Bush Administration not to rush to war against iraq. Brent scowcroft has written about 100 different ones over the course of a decade, and he has provided only a piecemeal and periodical and says a strategist. His vision is further revealed in this report but these two are focused on specific topics and limited by the short length. He has received second billing perhaps because of the alphabet, that many of us have experienced. There have also been published interviews with him and a journal article that he has written, despite the writing, the Global Vision has not been visible. At least not yet, i might add this is where the publication of his memoirs were felt since many are focused on his philosophy and worldview. He captures things discreetly almost always in small groups, oneonone, or in closed meetings. In particular experience has been his relationship with a former National Security adviser with whom he worked closely after nixons reelection and the two collaborated between 1973 and 1970s dublin in which kissinger called him his full situation. This has gone unnoticed by almost all the diplomatic historians and others who have written on the nixon and ford administration. But as his situation in the months before the resignation of nixon but that is only that of the president and the United States general Brent Scowcroft became his most trusted Foreign Policy adviser. The Reagan Administration then brought him to resolve this and later he investigated the irancontra scandal, he became the righthand man and early 2001, helping the intelligence reform advice on the latter issue that went mostly unheeded. He later worked lightly with the Foreign Policy team in their second term in Office Especially early in the administration. With the reddish conk lapsing and secretary of state his prime minister, callahans labor government for this rescue package backed by the United States and supported by germany and france come a great deal of money at the time, the trick here was they had to take these excessive negotiations secret way from the press so that it did not provoke a further run. Another of his situations talked about Ground Forces from central europe. Nato minus the u. S. In comparison to the warsaw pact minus the ussr would be to the Net Advantage and would take the initiative away. Bush eventually agreed to back scaled back version of the plan. He and his staff wanted to create an underlying condition that would make the berlin wall no longer necessary or significantly he was once a taken initiative away to think through this and what they wanted to achieve militarily strategically, economically, or via a set of things to reduce it, which also often meant getting the uk and france and germany to agree. Im a third example was the decision on the Brent Scowcroft commission to push their radical reductions in Nuclear Missiles and to reduce the number of warheads and reconvert or to download this. His argument, and one that gradually prevails was that rockets with up to 10 warheads were both more attractive as targets and more attractive as weapons that can be used in contrast to this. And in fact this is some of the logic. Other moves as a strategist were his insistence that iraq had to leave kuwait the first one in convincing bush and others in short order and his call to support the troop surge after 2007. And so what has allowed him in such a Security Policy. And when the visibility to keep his eyes on the ball . Military political economic, as deputy National Security adviser for National Security adviser proper. And as a professor in the air force academy, he has been able to and analyze to get a feel for this for the possible effects. Thinking about how these players and these were characteristics honed under this Major General also one of the developers of the single integrated Operations Plans and later working to further hone his sense of the International System and became more comfortable working with the press. While the same strategy has to be relevant, if he or she is on the frontlines, and his or her ideas are ignored, that person can be considered a strategist. He is renowned for his long articles on Foreign Affairs the sources of soviet conduct. And policymakers essentially and ignore him for the next five decades. And so the other aspect of strategy is operational. Where its hard to think of any other maker in recent times has been instantly influential indie expertise. And i was one slide behind, excuse me. And this has distinct roots. There are several distinct audiences and this includes military and intelligence and economics. Not only can Brent Scowcroft speak on these issues but he is also able to consider how they intersect. And then there is this drive coupled with ability. Where they have the ability to keep growing. Clearly receiving a fourth star had he retired when he became the National Security adviser in november of 9075. The third is this cordial and respectful personality, if we could comment about how easy he was to work with impressing not only with initiative and willingness to go the extra mile, that even if the ultimate decision did not go his own way, he had strong informed views and willing to be involved in strong arguments. One individual says he doesnt want anything. And he he can be very serious, reserved, and compartmentalized, hes also affable and is not above making offcolor jokes. Its along well with others, and he has a good sense of how to talk about his remarks, whether its academics military leaders, or young people. And some indications of the subtitle, i should say that it feels odd to be writing about someone that still runs his own business and their other prominent figures who are still very much with us so the situation becomes how does this work when we are provisional at this stage. Here i can say yes. Is the biography i wanted to examine and present the root and this includes a member of a very wellestablished family. This was one of the captains of the situation another is Richard Valentine who is also a missionary in india, and a founder of mormon sunday schools. And a third greatgrandfather arrived later by train and found food and dry goods and wholesale merchants, helped by the fact that he was an entrepreneur throughout the west for freight trains where they had to change engines and passengers had to switch from the unit is the victim Central Pacific and vice versa when traveling eastwest. And i cant go anywhere without seeing this that is what they have said that its too rough for them. By all accounts they have a happy and active childhood. With his sisters being poor in seven years older, he was in some ways an only child. Acknowledging that he never heard his parents fighting he commented that this experience gave him a distorted sense of his fellow humans. This is all very fine but what did these pleasant stories and nice family photos have to do with a Business Consultant and statesman . What they convey is just how secure that he was going up. Secure materially, socially, and secure psychologically. He had no status anxiety, and he was in because of a sense of deprivation or other impulse that motivated to leave this for west point and then joined the army air corps. But this is him here. And this sense of security makes a surprise attack on pearl harbor, following the near fatal crash of the north american aviation mustang at the age of 24 that much more serious, and then barely a month after the crash, he received word that his father died of heart attack at age of 57, lying in a hospital bed about the future he decided that he didnt want to be in the Family Business and the fact that this has a further implication, the biography is one simple scientist writing that we have no framework of the presentation of data, this makes a tough study and his records only partially available. We have the many histories and inside accounts with president ial administrations. And bringing perspective it is like one of these College Associates and relatives. And so exercising imagination as was commented, it is a videographer trying to envision being in someone elses world. Its a fools errand to be sure but this is surely to be fair means not just selecting the positive we have as well as one can in light of his or her personal and political circumstance. The final portion, the call of National Security refers to this call to military service whenever since age of 12 he read a brandnew book and he decided he wanted to go to west point. He would serve as commandant, or can the u. S. Military academy at lafayette college, and then go to west point. And then come back and teach others later at the air force academy. He carries his experience coming horrible plane crash in the painful death of his father, and so there are several in the administrations come as well as other purposes and working with strategy group, the Atlantic Council the council on foreign relations, and other bodies he also dedicated himself to her for his wife with type two diabetes, in large part because of the care or wherever it may be will allowing them to come back to work, getting back to work at 6 00 oclock the next morning and so only to wake up and find out more as regard to what had happened. Many talk about is who is serving as the personal individual for the discussion of particularly sensitive issues, working as a Business Consultant and 1977 through 1988, from 1994 through the present and serving as chair or cochair of the Blue Ribbon Commission study groups. So what important elements are not implicated in a books title and subtitle two well one is the momentous history that he was a part, playing a key role with many of the chief events in u. S. National Security Policy of the last 40 years as an adviser to Ronald Reagan and george w. Bush, for these chapters i add was rules to focus on a few principal then so does the u. S. Evacuation of saigon, the development of the u. S. And china relations the board investigation of the iran contra scandal, leading us to this 1991 gulf war and the decision to attack iraq in 2003, where many of the former colleagues and friends and allies were working for george w. Bush. And i also wanted to focus on his role in other important if less wellknown ways. The u. S. Government [inaudible] why Condoleezza Rice departed from the examples in by her mentor and friend on the following. And how Brent Scowcrofts roll and his role in pioneering the development of highranking officials turn to International Business consulting after serving in office. And other niches that did not effectively exist in the 70s. We were sort of keystone cops. After the soviets pulled out with disastrous longerterm consequences. The administration would handle the demise of yugoslavia and not more proactive. Finally the book titled is not give a a false sense of the international is. He accepts the world as it is and believes the United States should work with the powers. In pursuit of common goals for the promotion of international stability. So how does a study of skill cross life ands approach to National Security policy at present . A study of his career and the complicit comparison none of the president ial administrations reveals the importance of personnel and interpersonal chemistry in the white house both between the pres. And his National Security adviser and among a foreignpolicy principles. He learned from the difficult nixon 40 years and the irancontra affair. Accordingly it had to be closely coordinated. This meant establishing the trust in getting the buying of the principal for the deputy recommendations and vi