By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
In an apparent critique of U.S. foreign policy, the former chief military adviser to two presidents on Thursday told a Princeton University audience that the nation needed to be engaged internationally at a time of great danger and uncertainty in the world.
Retired Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and now a visiting professor at the school, urged the country not to withdraw, despite two wars in the Middle East. Mr. Mullen acknowledged that the country has been at war for a long time, but he said the world still depends “greatly” on America.
“The world is a very dangerous, uncertain place that we need to be out there in,” he said at one point in his remarks to students and others. “And after war, we always come home, we always isolate. That’s the natural tendency.”
“I think we have raised expectations globally for so long that when we’re not out there, everybody’s confused,” he continued. “Our friends are confused, our enemies are confused and we need to be very careful about where we are and where we aren’t.”
During his talk, Mr. Mullen touched on the unrest in Syria and offered his assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose nation is flexing its military muscle in that part of the world.
“And he’s somebody, as are most dictators in most of the world, the diplomacy they understand is, sadly but it’s just the way it is, you load the six-shooter, you put a round in every single barrel, you cock it, put it to his head, and then he goes, ‘Ok, now you’re serious, let’s talk.’ ”
He said that for people like that, the country must operate from a place of strength.
In response to a student’s question, Mr. Mullen touched on the threats of cyber attacks pose to the country with the potential to devastate the nation’s finance system and shut down its electrical grid. In 2012, it was reported that Mr. Mullen’s personal computers had been targeted by hackers.
Mr. Mullen, who turned 69 on Sunday, served 43 years in the Navy until his retirement in 2011. During his career, he served as chairman of the Joints Chiefs first under President George W. Bush and then under President Barack Obama.
