Brilliance and integrity of Secretary of Defense - Hon. Donald H. Rumsfeld

"He comes to work everyday with a single-minded focus to make this country safe. We're lucky as a nation that he continues to serve with such passion and such integrity and such determination and such brilliance."

Admiral James Stavridis,
Commander, U.S. Southern Command


For more than a year, (while I was the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Staff Director for the Detainee Task Force) I shared the back bench in the Secretary of Defense's conference room with Admiral Stavridis. The first day in the conference room he was a one star. The very next morning he was a three star admiral. He had been selected for his second star prior to his arrival in the Pentagon. Before he had a chance to put on that second star, he was selected as Secretary Rumsfeld's Senior Military Assistant (SMA) and that got him his third star.