Summary

General Frank McKenzie (Biography, LinkedIn) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss his new book, The Melting Point. General McKenzie was the 14th commander of the United States Central Command.

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

Combatant commands and their purpose
Leading CENTCOM, Central Command
The role of intelligence in military leadership
The US withdrawal from Afghanistan

Reflections

Learning from the lessons of history
The importance and impact of leadership

And much, much more …

Quotes of the Week

“What that leads you to is really, intelligence. It paints that picture and it describes the operational environment within which you can operate. So here's the risk. If you're an aggressive commander … There's a temptation to lean on intelligence to tell you what you want to hear, shape the information … In the back of your mind, you need to recognize, you can't go into it with what I would call confirmation bias.” – General Frank McKenzie.

Resources

SURFACE SKIM

Spotlight Resource

The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century, Kenneth F. McKenzie (Naval Institute Press, 2024)

SpyCasts

Beginner Resources

CENTCOM, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2024) [Encyclopedia entry]
Why the Middle East is so important to the US, BBC World Service, YouTube (2024) [10 min. video]
Combatant Commands, U.S. Department of Defense (n.d.) [Brief overviews of the 11 Unified Combatant Commands]

DEEPER DIVE

Primary Sources

Wildcard Resource

Letter from Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant (1863)
In this famous letter, Lincoln congratulates Major General Grant on his leadership during the Siege of Vicksburg, a critical success for the Union army. Perhaps not often done by a president, Lincoln here admits his strategy was wrong, and praises the intellect and military prowess of Grant.

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Leading United States Central Command - with General Frank McKenzie 01:13:25 Share

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Leading United States Central Command - with General Frank McKenzie