Amna Nawaz:
General Stanley McChrystal was the top commander of American and international forces in Afghanistan in 2009, when his career was cut short.
An article in “Rolling Stone” quoted him and his aides making candid, yet disparaging remarks about President Obama and Vice President Biden. McChrystal resigned after 35 years in the Army. Among the units he led in that career, the Joint Special Operations Command, which hunted down al-Qaida in Iraq when the United States was bogged down in that war.
He now has his own consulting firm and is the author of a new book, “On Character: Choices That Define a Life.”
I spoke with him earlier this week and began by asking him about the current leadership at the Pentagon and the controversy around Defense Secretary Hegseth’s sharing of classified information on a commercial messaging app.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal (RET.), U.S. Army: Well, like most Americans, I’m concerned about the Department of Defense because it’s responsible for all our defense.
If I look at something like Signalgate, as we will call it, mistakes get made. To me, that came across as people acting in an immaturish fashion. And they make a mistake and you move on. But you accept responsibility for that mistake.
And what bothered me most about that particular incident was the days after, when professionals who were involved in that went in front of television and I think some testified in front of Congress and they claimed that the information was not classified. And they know better.
