Alone among them, General Keane brought the president a concrete strategic concept, later to be known as the troop surge, which he helped develop, to change American strategy for the war and improve its execution. Carolyn Bryant Donham, a central figure in the Emmett Till case, died this week. So the troops in December of 2011 pull out. Son of John Keane and Elizabeth "Betty" Keane When was the die cast on this? I was involved in some discussions [in the] last week or two along these lines, and these proposals have certainly been made. I think he was an inevitable casualty of the lack of political support for the presidents strategy. This much I do know is that ISIS should be our focus, because this is a menace to the region of the Middle East. If there is going to be political upheaval, then they see that as opportunity to influence that political outcome. WebKeane currently sits on the board of directors of MetLife, General Dynamics, AlliedBarton and consultant/strategic advisor Academi. I was there a lot during that time frame. Some people say that basically what took place was a disengagement. "This is a very healthypopulation. We should be engaging them with air power. I did not know if I could measure up, he said. The most recent issue is U.S. involvement with Syria. In 1991 Keane saved the life of General David Petraeus during a live fire exercise. That government was trying to take office in 2006. He told the Fordham News in 2017, I joined the ROTC program essentially because the country was at war and we knew that we would likely be joining it. Web Site Copyright 1995-2023 WGBH Educational Foundation. Some of them were just given rank. He is the Chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, a member of the prestigious Secretary of Defense Policy Board, having advised four Defense Secretaries and a member of the 2018 and 2022 Congressional Commission on the National Defense Strategy. January through June [it] wasnt going that well. Fox News' Charles Creitz contributed to this report. He is currently the chairman of AM General. He attended Fordham University, where he participated in The National Society of Pershing Rifles, graduating with a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1966. Collins Keane was also married to John Venners (a retired executive), in addition to his position as the head of the government. He later became president and CEO of GSI. The radical Islamists were not about Al Qaeda senior leadership simply in Pakistan. They tied the knot on June 12, 1965. They largely accomplished that objective. Do you think there is any chance of that happening whatsoever? That was the Anbar Awakening that grew to about 105,000, and there was a point where we would no longer pay them. I was encouraged by that. When ISIS [Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] finally comes to Mosul, some of those units that were there were at 50 to 60 percent strength. Jacks estimated net worth is around $17 million dollars. He retired from military service in 2003. And the problems that could grow out of that? As Keane said in 2014, "Gingrich gave me some good advice. Keane earns around $400,000 annually, so its not surprising that her height is a concern. 5 Strategies To Increase Your Business Leads, 4 Ways to Make Your Cars Brakes Last Longer, 4 Qualities To Look For In A Personal Injury Lawyer, Services for creating a creative, marketing-animated video. He was a four-star Army General, served as acting Chief of Staff of the Army and continued to Since retiring from the military in 2003, Keane has been an influential adviser, often testifying before Congress on matters of foreign policy and national security. Keanes awards include the Silver Star, two Defense Distinguished Service Medals, five Legion of Merits, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Joint Chiefs Service Badge. He was also the chairman of Metlife. This was a significant movement, and they used this to take advantage of it. Youre not calling me Jack. He was a four-star Army General, served as acting Chief of Staff of the Army and continued to serve as an advisor after formally retiring in 2003. Following his commissioning, he was assigned to an infantry paratroop unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In November 2016, now-President Donald Trump asked Keane to serve as Secretary of Defense. He saw the Sons of Iraq not through the same lens that we did. Keane was born in 1943 in Manhattan, New York, the son of Elizabeth (Davis) and John Keane. I dont think the situation is Iraq is over yet, and it remains to be seen what is going to happen there. Thats what sustains Assad. I never forgot that. What did we want out of Iraq? The numbers are not that strong. That makes them very vulnerable to our use of air power. "Here is the good news," Keane explained. to achieve a political arrangement where everybody in Iraq is represented in a new government. I got a sense of what was needed in terms of the kind of officerswe want to have coming out ofthe military academy. And when you walk out of that room, feel good that you got it all out there.' Keane was awarded a medal during his service and said that it changed his life. Related Story: My 9/11: A Personal Reflection by General Jack Keane, Former Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Seven Questions with Retired General Jack Keane, Agents for Change: Alumni, Students Reflect on Global Outreach Experience as GO! Angela McGlowan spent her childhood in Lafayette, Louisiana. I shopped that around with [former Secretary of State Henry] Kissinger, [former Deputy Secretary of Defense] Paul Wolfowitz, [former Speaker of the House] Newt Gingrich [R-Ga]. The sergeant major closed my office door and said to me, Major, I know youve got some things that are bothering you. And he wanted to control those forces, and control them he did. People were not receiving services. General Keane is married to Angela McGlowan and has two sons, Daniel and Matthew, who is deceased, from his marriage to the late Theresa Doyle. Those relationships had waned, so our influence was not as great. As President-elect Donald Trump assembles his national security team, The Cipher Brief met with one prospective nominee, General Jack Keane, former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army and member of The Cipher Briefs network. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[336,280],'updatedideas_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_8',112,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-updatedideas_com-medrectangle-4-0'); The couple met when Jack was still a student at Fordham University. Im trying to achieve my political objectives while you Americans still have some influence over this government. End of message. Jack later enrolled at Western Kentucky University, graduating with a masters degree in philosophy. How hard was it to convince President Bush that this was the right direction to go? He said, 'Youre going to get about 15 minutes at best and put it all out there. Yes, Gen Jack is currently married to his second wife Angela McGlowan. Gen. [David] Petraeus takes over for Casey. Keane met his wife, Theresa Winifred Doyle, on a blind date when they were both 18 years old. They never asked for our troops. He said he refused to resign, so he was terminated. At Fordham, it was quite something else. The casualties were increasing year over year, and the situation was so dramatic. In 2006, in Baghdad, it was a bloodbath, with hundreds of people being killed every month and tens and scores of them every single week. He normally celebrates his birthday on the 1st of February every year. That was challenging because it was completely different than my Catholic high school. . The whole learning process was about your own growth and development as a human beingnot just intellectually but also morally and emotionally. The necessity of the surge was starting to be talked about. You have so much more to offer., I said, Well, Father, have you ever been associated with the Army? But its disappointing to see partisan politics get involved in something dealing with our service academies. They wanted largely what we have in the United States and in the West, and we could help guide that to a certain degree in terms of our influence. Some of that for me was in combat, which is such an extraordinary human experience. He then attended the Command and General Staff College and the Army War College . recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I thought college was just going to be high school on steroids. He has also lobbied on behalf of AM General, the firm that produces the Humvee. . In addition, Keane co-founded IP3 International which is a nuclear energy consulting firm and he is considered an influential voice to leaders from both political parties, including former President Trump. I remember speaking to a sheik who came back into the political system in late 2008, laid down his arms. Describe Gen. Petraeus. What they were least interested in is regurgitation of information. No. Moreover, he is currently the lead strategic analyst at Fox News and also served as U.S. Army vice chief of staff and has already retired. I do believe the 2010 election that youre thinking of, and the closeness of the vote and the fact that Maliki lost a vote by one, did provide an opportunity for us to influence an outcome. He began to employ the same. And the entire stability of Iraq was clearly in jeopardy, and the United States was about to suffer humiliating defeat. Jack Keane has been outspoken in regard to his distrust of Iran. For Keane specifically, the Beast notes that for years he has been the executive chairman of AM General, a manufacturing company that makes Humvees. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. And Im not suggesting that they cant be a threat again. The current team I dont believe is going to get us there. And that was, I think, a mistake. Retired General and Fox News analyst Jack Keane slammed the Biden administration on Thursday after he was one of the members ousted from U.S. military FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. 5 Strategies To Increase Your Business Leads, 4 Ways to Make Your Cars Brakes Last Longer, 4 Qualities To Look For In A Personal Injury Lawyer, Services for creating a creative, marketing-animated video. Those conversations remain private. I just believe in my own mind, based on all the other decisions that they made about the Middle East, that they saw any commitment as something that could lead to a protracted involvement in another potential war in the Middle East. You spent almost 40 years in the Army, and you spent only four years at Fordham, so Im assuming youre rooting for Army., He was just having fun with me, but I looked at him. Whats your take on the story thats out there that during the 2010 election, one of the things is there was an agreement with the Iranians and Maliki to get their support? But Keane said it was also vitally important for him to neither comment on the views of candidates or issue any endorsements. I think the American people areabsolutely fed up with it., Have a tip we should know? The fact of the matter is it began in 2009, long before our troops were pulled out, that we began a political disengagement from Iraq which was significant. As soon as they saw our troops staying there, sleeping there, patrolling day and night, protecting their children, protecting their way of life, and then getting hurt doing it, they invested in our troops. During the surge period, General Keane conducted frequent trips to Iraq and Afghanistan for senior defense officials. WebGeneral John M. Keane, United States Army, Retired. The [symbolism] of what took place with his own vice president the day after all of this takes place obviously is no accident. We saw them as Sunni tribes that now were disenfranchised from the Al Qaeda because of their choosing, who wanted to come into the political system and support it and were interested in a stable and secure Iraq. In Washington, D.C., in 2006, Democrats had long since given up on the war in Iraq in terms of any tangible political support for it. Or to keep it anonymous, click here. His civilian awards include the Fordham University Distinguished Alumni Award, the USO 2002 Man of the Year award, and the Association of the United States Army 2001 Man of the Year award. But our legacy is not how well we run these organizations, because theres another guy or gal standing behind us who could run it even better. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. And clearly what is happening now is a failure of that objective because we have external forces that came into Iraq from Syria. These are the same folks that we defeated once before. Keane attended Fordham University, where he participated in The National Society of Pershing Rifles, graduating with a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1966. Lastly, on March 10, 2020, the Presidential Medal of Freedom was awarded to Jack by President Donald Trump. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. The fact of the matter is we had to change strategy. Even given that limitation, I think we should have made a much more earnest attempt to influence that government, given the opportunity was there with such a close vote. They had been promised that they would be integrated into the Iraqi security forces. We had a plan. Keane went on to note that he was appointed for a three-year term, in accordance with the law, and that on Wednesday got that letter from Russell, whom he did not call out by name. Of course the huge problem is the sectarian divide in this part of the world and in Iraq. Retired four-star general Jack Keane tells NPR that he declined Trump's offer for personal reasons and that he recommended retired generals James Mattis She was a best-selling author and was present at Jacks ceremony to receive the medal. Fighting forces, particularly ground forces, have to operate on the basis of unit cohesion. After completing his education, Keane served as a career paratrooper in Vietnam. Jack Keane is a retired four-star general who served in the U.S. Army for nearly four decades. Do you look back and say, all that was accomplished, all the work that was done, all the lives that were lost, all the money that was spent to accomplish this, it has all been squandered? Market data provided by Factset. I said, Are you kidding me? We had been tracking it at the Institute for the Study of War for two and a half years, ISIS, and reporting on every new town that they took over and imposed governance on. The ISIS force, as we now call it, moved to Syria to establish a sanctuary, knowing we could afford to do that there and take up refuge and began to take control of territory. Fordham football is playing Army at West Point on September first. Were the warnings out there and just ignored, or what? Two years ago, Fordham ROTC established the General Jack Keane Outstanding Leader Award, to be given each year to a graduating cadet. That was a strategic decision that haunts us to this day. Are we going to have problems with this [guy] later on? Market data provided by Factset. First of all, there are very few natural-born gifted leaders. With regard to leadership, anybody can make a list of attributes leaders have to haveintegrity, judgment, moral underpinning, et cetera. Was there some resistance against him, though, in the beginning? Thats what Ive been saying. But the United States, make no mistake about it, contributed significantly to the crisis thats unfolding in Iraq and Syria today by this disengagement, not just in Iraq. All of that was very visible to any observer that was taking place. Asked to comment on concerns surrounding U.S. soldiers at risk of contracting the coronavirus abroad,particularly in South Korea, Japanand Italy, Keane said the "entire chain of command" is focused on putting proper safeguards in place, but that he believed infected soldiers would make a full recovery. Matthew suffered from cerebral palsy and died at age 40. You see this as the seeds of the insurrection, the eventual ISIS coming down. I will let others evaluate whether they think Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer and others were qualified, or not political, to serve on these boards, said Psaki during the White House press briefing on Wednesday. I dont think I would have been as successful as a military officer if my path didnt go through Fordham University. The United States military serves our national leaders regardless of their political perspective, regardless of their policies we do not want ever to have those national leaders, those civilian leaders, ever look at the United States military as a partisan organization.. A career paratrooper, he rose to command the 101st Airborne Division and the 18th Airborne Corps before he was named vice chief of staff of the Army in 1999. Keane is 80 years old, born on February 1, 1943, in New York City, New York, in the United States of America. 75-year-old Keane told Fox News Radio on December 21 that he is not interested in taking the Defense Secretary job. And I can remember the senators were almost coming across the table, figuratively, at them, because they saw the facts, and they knew the facts, and it didnt square with what they were being told. #FoxNews #Gowdy. How to Choose the Right Equipment for Your Business? Gen Jack is a very secretive gentleman; he prefers to keep his personal life away from the limelight. They are something that can be dealt with. Geni requires JavaScript! Keane shared that during the election, at least six presidential candidates sought his advice on national security issues. surge strategy in Iraq.. He has commissioned an infantry 2nd Lieutenant from Army ROTC as a Distinguished Military Graduate at Fordham University, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree and received a Master of Arts degree from Western Kentucky University. The United States military, assisted by the Iraqi security forces, conducted two operations to push this back: Together Forward I and Together Forward II, the latter being in the late summer, early fall. And none of us were looking, even the congressmen and senators on the board, were not displaying any partisanship whatsoever whether they were Democrats or Republicans. Additionally, he obtained the Combat Infantry Badge and the Master Parachutist Badge and later served in U.S. engagements in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo. General Keane retired from active Army service in 2003. Jack served in the Vietnam War as a Ranger paratrooper, leading in combat as a platoon leader and company commander. On December 23, the president announced that current Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan would serve as Acting Defense Secretary beginning January 1, 2019. And I liked the idea of serving the country., Fordham honored Keane in 2015 with the establishment of the General Jack Keane Outstanding Leader Award. We were very much aware of what was taking place [with the] ISIS expansion in Syria. Keane also argued that by leaving Syria, the U.S. would leave the entire area open to Iran. While they were both still in high school, Keane met his future wife Theresa through a blind date. And in the Al Qaedas mind, they were defeated. Anthony Tata: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Privileged to be the Guest of Honor at #FordhamUniversity #NROTC commissioning at my alma mater my home town #NYC pic.twitter.com/VImYBaqHNq, Jack Keane (@gen_jackkeane) May 20, 2016. Now, listen, Im not absolving Maliki of responsibility here. So how does this realign, adjust the debate that is going on in Washington? Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Thats an historical fact. The United States was supporting Maliki unequivocally. This is an edited transcript of that conversation, conducted on July 8, 2014. What led us to the point where we are right now? But it was his participation in the ROTC program that would set the course for the rest of his life. I was very intense, working very hard, and I was a little frustrated with my boss, my battalion commander, who wasnt paying attention to all the things I thought he should be paying attention to. I mean, what did Iran want in Iraq? That is one of the most rapid turnarounds in counterinsurgency warfare that Im aware of. 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Whether thats in a stressful situation like combat or in other environments, perseverance really can be very defining because there are constant impediments and obstacles. She stands at an average height and weighs about 140 pounds. Then, as part of the ROTC program, I joined the Pershing Rifles [national military society]because they seemed more confident and accomplished than the other participants in ROTC. Give us the weapons to help us fight Assad. I think what happened almost immediately that indicated major political change was about to take place is the new ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill, told Gen. Odierno when he took office after Ambassador [Ryan] Crocker left in 2009, he told them that Iraq is going to be treated as a sovereign state. Absolutely. Medals, Awards. WebHe commanded both the 101st Airborne Division and the XVIII Airborne Corps. After his retirement, he has worked as a national security commentator for Fox News. But this is a new threat and a new face, and we have to deal with it because it is in the Levant right now, established a bona fide caliphate. Keane stands at an average height of 5 feet 7 inches (approximately 1.70 m) with an estimated body weight of around 73kg. His brigade was protecting the population for the first time ever in Anbar Province, as opposed to just chasing down bad guys. He has a no nonsense attitude about it, and he and his team are trying to convey that to the Iranians so they stay out of trouble. @gen_jackkeane pic.twitter.com/l7f0VOnZQc, Trish Regan (@trish_regan) July 23, 2018. I dont know. According to Keane, Petraeus was shot "accidentally, standing right next to me, and I had to fight to save his life. Twitter/Getty Hes going to likely be challenged in the court over it because it is defined by law, he continued. How are the stars aligning? The AWOL or desertion rate becomes staggeringly high. Both are well-known for their political views and their work in the political arena. General Jack Keanes new wife was born in the U.S. as a gift from John Venners, a long-time friend. But thats the system that we had at the time, frustrating for anybody that was looking at it. I asked Petraeus this, and [he] wrote about it recently. Heres a guy whos not your orthodox general in a lot of ways. We'll hear more from General Keane in just a moment. Give me your overview of this guy: who he was, who we viewed him to be at that point, and how cooperative he was. But it is not visible, because the numbers are still there. And it did come apart. And the fact of the matter is Iraqis themselves wanted a strategic partnership with the United States. After I spoke a couple of years ago, the first question I got was from a cadet. Seven Questions with Retired General Jack Keane - Fordham You went to Catholic schools before Fordham, but was Fordham your first encounter with the Jesuits? A huge mistake., The promise of Iraq in terms of being an anchor for stability and security in the region is significant, and the Obama administration just failed to grasp that incredible opportunity, There was no way that anybody could not understand what Maliki was doing, that he was clearly undermining his political opponents, in some cases purging them and clearly changing the security forces, which obviously is his power base.. Finally we have a President who is not coddling [#Iran] like Obama was for 8 years this @POTUS is moving in the right direction. Lets start back with 2006, and the debate that was growing that a surge might be the general direction to go. Two things happen here that I think convolute what the status of forces discussions were about. It was right for them to pay them, and he admitted that he would pay them. In interviews, he has argued that former presidents did not do enough to counter Iranian aggression. I dont believe for a minute that this marriage between the Sunni tribes and ISIS could ever be a long-term one, for the same reason it was not with the Al Qaeda back in 2005 and 2006.