The Aspen Institute

We are very fortunate to live in the United States enjoying prosperity and freedom. At the same time, we all feel this nagging disbelief at the divide in our country and the inability of our leaders in Washington to come together on the most important issues facing our nation today. Challenging issues such as immigration reform, the national debt, and foreign policy are also often the most contentious.

To address how the national divide impacts Washington and the nation, we have invited Retired Navy Admiral Mike Mullen. In retirement he has spoken about the divide afflicting our nation. We invite you to come and hear him.

Admiral Mullen served 43 years in the Navy learning leadership as a Department Head on a destroyer, the skipper of a guided missile destroyer and a guided missile cruiser, commander of a carrier battle group, commander of 2nd Fleet, and by holding important staff positions in Washington. He was only the third officer in the Navy’s history to be appointed to four different four-star assignments: From 2003 until 2011 he was Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Commander U.S. Naval Forces Europe, Chief of Naval Operations, and finally the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As a four-star Admiral, Mullen served under three Secretaries of Defense and two Presidents, one Republican and on Democrat. As a Flag officer, he had extensive dealing wit Congress articulation the Navy’s Sea Power 21 and then as the Chairman dealing with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He has been a Washington insider at the highest levels. He is a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a Master of Science Operational Research from the Naval Postgraduate School. Since 2012 Admiral Mullen has been a visiting professor at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is a frequent commentator on nationals news programs and continues to speak frankly about issues of national importance.