STEVE PIECZENIK TALKS

National Defense University and The  Freedom Of Teaching/Speech

 National Defense University [NDU] is a famous institution of advance learning in military strategy, tactics, political psychology, economics, game theory and a varied assortment of courses that are comparable in intensity, rigor and discipline to MIT and Harvard combined.  It is located on a beautiful parchment of land where my daughter used to play soccer, called Fort McNair located in Southwest, Washington DC.

The primary mission of NDU is to prepare military and civilian leaders from the US and foreign countries to develop skills for critical thinking, analyzing military and civilian problems [which have become intertwined in our present combat scenarios], and to question any and all assumptions posited by either a military or other authority.   In short,  from my point of view,  it was the medical school for senior military officers soon to assume major command posts all over the world. 

 It was not an accident that NDU was located on the famous Ft McNair facility where some of America’s greatest generals lived -including  Patton,  Eisenhower and George Marshall, the architect of both the Japanese and European Wars. 

But for me,  I have had a very strong personal and professional attachment to NDU.  For over twenty years or more,  I was the Guest Lecturer for Professor Alan G. Whittaker, former Dean of NDU,  at his unique course on Political Psychology.  Alan was and is the consummate professional in both his scholarly research on the influence of psychology on National Security and his operational fortitude in the field of actionable intelligence.  There was no one more important in the field of psychology and politics than Alan.  And because he was an extremely elegant and exceedingly tolerant man [remember he had to deal with me], he invited me every year to attend his advanced seminar on Psychology and Presidential Decision Making.  What made his course such an unusual experience for me and others who lectured at NDU was the freedom and latitude that I was given. This is an extremely important point for me to make as you will see later . No subject was out of limits, including my opinions about ‘false flag’ and ‘stand down operations’.  My personal opinions of military and civilian leaders with whom I had served,  those whom I admired and those whom I detested.  Similarly, the class was encouraged by me and Alan to question every  and all statements and assumptions that I had made or implied.

The audience consisted of extremely bright, proactive, mature men [usually Colonels]  and women [senior State Department and intelligence officials]  with extensive military and civilian experiences garnered from all over the world. This was not one of your typical ‘Ivy League” seminars where you could tell ‘war stories’ and ‘finesse ideas’. There was an elan vital that I had never witnessed anywhere else,  least of all in any medical school or civilian graduate course.

In short,  NDU was suis generis and experience of learning and teaching unparalleled anywhere in my extensive academic and professional career.

Unfortunately, this April,  Lieutenant Colonel [LTC] Matthew Dooley, a highly decorated combat war veteran and a 1994 graduate of the U.S Military Academy at West Point was publicly condemned by General Martin Dempsey , Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and relieved of his teaching assignments because of “ the negative way Islam was portrayed in an elective course entitled “Perspective on Islam and Islamic Revolution’.  I place these words in quotes because I am referring directly from an article sent to me by a friend in the military-  written by the Thomas Moore Law Center [TMLC] , a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor Michigan , announcing that it would represent LTC Dooley in this case where his freedom of speech and teaching were summarily curtailed by both General Dempsey and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. 

 As I really don’t know the exact details of the case, I will refer liberally to the paper that was sent to me entitled “Muslim Influence In Pentagon Prevails; Material on Radical Islam “Purged,” Outstanding Army Officer “Disciplined”—TMLC enter case. Please allow me to quote extensively from this article so that the point I would like to make, sounds more equitable and fair to all parties concerned.  But first here are the “facts” as they are stated in the article: 

According to this article, ‘the actions against LTC Dooley, an instructor involved with this elective,  follow a letter to the Department of Defense dated October 19, 2011, and signed by 57 Muslim Organizations,  demanding that all training materials that they judge to be offensive to Islam be ‘purged’ and instructors ‘are effectively disciplined’. 

In response to these actions,  Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the TMLC commented “We are privileged to represent Colonel Dooley. He has honorably served his nation for 18 years and effectively carried out every assigned mission with distinction... he was deployed to Bosnia,  Kuwait and Iraq for a total of six operational and combat tours. ….in order to appease Muslims and the White House, General Dempsey and DOD rushed to punish LTC Dooley “ for what appears to have been ‘lack of political sensitivity’ and ‘disrespect of the Islamic religion’.  Apparently,  Dooley had received top marks as an instructor from both students and the faculty chain of command [not an easy accomplishment I can personally assure you].  However, all that changed when a student outside of his elective complained directly to the Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, which touched off a media firestorm full of inaccuracies and political ‘blame-storming’.  Clearly the entire episode became an imbroglio of uncertain causes and outcomes. 

But for me,  the most important aspect of the story is the simple fact that appears to incontrovertible- that at NDU and other War Colleges,  the professional academic rigor of ‘challenging’ the students to ‘think the unthinkable’ was seriously compromised.  In this case, it appears, until further disproved that the academic freedom of the instructor was impaired by ex cathedra statement made by General Dempsey at a Pentagon press conference on May 10, 2012 when he characterized Dooley’s course as ‘totally objectionable’ and ‘against our values’.  This view was seconded by Panetta who was seated next to the Dempsey.   In effect, what had happened was that Dooley was judged by his superior without having had the proper course of investigation. Not only had Dempsey and Panetta violated  the First Amendment of freedom of speech - they also violated the basic principle of all academic institutions for which civilians are normally protected by both tenure and a union ---and that is the Freedom To Teach whatever they believe is the best interest of the student.  Both officials had violated NDU’s right to process of law in which the University’s Provost has the primary responsibility for adjudication of this type of problem. In effect,  both men nullified the very chain of command instituted both by the military and academia.  Not to mention their collective violation of our most precious part of the Constitution –The Right of Free Speech. 

 Why do I write about this problem of ‘political sensitivity’ in our military?  because it has major consequences for our national  security.  It is not a far stretch of the imagination to think that Army Major Nidal Hasan,  a US Army psychiatrist, was allowed to pass through the ranks of the military despite a clear record of incompetency and insubordination.  But because of ‘political sensitivity’ he was allowed ‘act out’ until he deliberately committed the massacre at Fort Hood which could have been prevented.  I don’t say this in hindsight,  because I was able indirectly to predict right after his horrific actions that he indeed had harbored strong anti-American sentiments.  The subsequent FBI reports on Dr Hasan corroborate the finding that “political correctness’ was the main reason for not fully investigating  Dr Hasan who had been clearly disgusted with America.
But more importantly,  I agree with a CIA assessment that  “ all US military Combatant Commands,  Services , the National Guard Bureau, and The Joint Staff  will be devoid of learning about the psychology,  intent, rationale, and hatred imbedded in Islamic Radical Theory.”

So from my professional  perspective,  I should never have been taught by the CIA and DARPA the following fields of knowledge—Soviet Communism;  Agitation Propaganda;  Political Psychology;  National Character Studies[ replete with their customs, hatreds and proclivities];  US Imperialism;  Arab Terrorism;  Muslim Terrorism;  Jewish Terrorism; Zionist Terrorism; Hindu Terrorism;  Christian Terrorism.

As a matter of fact,  to put it very simply,  I should never had read both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution because both are extremely subversive documents dedicated to the eradication of any interference both military or civilian to the wellbeing of our republic---this wonderful experiment called America. 

 This kind of censorship, in any form, in both the military and civilian sectors of our society begets the tyranny of today and suppression of tomorrow. And that leads, to … oh my God!  A Revolution! Perhaps….  a Second American Revolution.  

]