Colin Powell’s legacy includes a few media-driven myths

FOUR COLIN POWELL MYTHS: Much has been written and said over the past day as we learned of the death of former Joint Chiefs Chairman and Secretary of State retired Gen. Colin Powell at age 84 from complications of COVID-19. Powell’s place in history is firmly cemented as one of America’s finest military leaders, and accolades have been pouring in from all quarters.

But as someone who covered Powell from my first days as a Pentagon reporter in 1992, I couldn’t help noticing that there are a number of media-driven myths surrounding his legacy, “facts” that are assumed to be true because they are repeated so often.

Here are four that come to mind:

HIS DOCTRINE CALLED FOR ‘OVERWHELMING FORCE’: I know from my conversations with Powell that he bristled at the description of his doctrine as calling for the use of “overwhelming force,” which he felt smacked of overkill. The term he used and preferred was “decisive force.”

In his 1995 memoir, My American Journey, Powell acknowledged what came to be known as the “Powell Doctrine” was greatly influenced by the thinking of Casper Weinberger, the defense secretary for whom Powell served as a military assistant in the 1980s.

Weinberger laid out his criteria in a 1984 speech at the National Press Club, in which Weinberger said any commitment of U.S. military forces should be in the national interest, have clearly defined objectives and the support of the American people, and employ “the forces needed” to win.

In his book, Powell writes, “Use all the force necessary, and do not apologize for going in big if that’s what it takes. Decisive force ends wars quickly and in the long run saves lives.”

HE DIDN’T RUN FOR PRESIDENT BECAUSE HIS WIFE DIDN’T WANT HIM TO: In 1995, Powell was one of the most popular men in America, and on his five-week book tour his fans were begging him to run for president, even before his politics were known. Powell considered it, but in the end, did not run.

“It wasn’t necessarily because Alma, his wife, didn’t want him to do that,” says retired Col. Bill Smullen, one of Powells closest aides. “It was because he just didn’t have the fire in his belly.”

“We didn’t have time,” Smullen said on CNN yesterday. “He would have had to run for election in 1996. And it takes money, it takes staff, it takes a space in which to work, and takes an ability to speak to all of the issues. And we just didn’t have that capability in our kit bag, so to speak.”

Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, who spoke with Powell repeatedly before his decision, agreed that it came down to whether Powell thought he could win.

“I spent a long time talking to him and his aides and realized before he announced he wasn’t going to run [and] that he was not going to run because, in war, he always wanted to send enough to guarantee full success,” Woodward said on CNN. “And he realized in politics there’s no guarantee of success, and I think that’s largely why he pulled back and did not run.”

HE LIED ABOUT IRAQI WMDs: The big blot on Powell’s stellar career was his Feb. 5, 2003, address to the United Nations in which he vastly overstated the intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

“Every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence,” he said.

But Powell was misled by George Tenet’s CIA, which as Tenet recounts in his book, At the Center of the Storm, did an incredibly sloppy job of producing the intelligence report that formed the basis of Powell’s speech.

It was Tenet who told President George W. Bush the intelligence was a “slam dunk.” In several days of briefings, Powell was told information that came from one questionable source code-named “Curveball” was actually from multiple sources. It was Powell who was lied to.

“I didn’t lie. I didn’t know it was not true. I was secretary of state, not the director of intelligence,” Powell said in a 2005 interview.

HE INVOKED ‘THE POTTERY BARN RULE’: Powell is credited with warning Bush before the 2003 Iraq invasion, “you break it, you own it,” which Bob Woodward said in his 2004 book, Plan of Attack, that Powell privately called it the “Pottery Barn rule.”

It turns out neither Powell nor Pottery Barn had such a rule. “It came from Tom Friedman, the [New York Times] columnist. So, it’s Tom Friedman’s fault,” Powell told CNN’s Larry King in 2004.

“I made up the whole thing,” Friedman said at the time to colleague William Safire, but he said the phrase was in his columns and speeches, not attributed to Powell. “I was a little surprised to see Powell being quoted as telling that to the president. I was also pleased. I only wish the president had paid attention.”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: I traveled with Powell, interviewed him on and off the record, and produced a documentary about his life and career. I’ll be sharing some of my personal recollections in the next issue of the Washington Examiner magazine, available to subscribers Friday and on our website next week.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Good Tuesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Victor I. Nava. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE

Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!

HAPPENING TODAY: House (Select) Investigation of the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol Committee will vote at 7 p.m. on adopting the report “Recommending that the House of Representatives Cite Stephen K. Bannon for Criminal Contempt of Congress.”

The report, which can be found here, alleges Bannon “had specific knowledge about the events planned for January 6th before they occurred” and had a role “in constructing and participating in the ‘stop the steal’ public relations effort that motivated the attack.”

Livestream at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqSRsknSiyLARtzmop9dvhw/featured

CHINA’S NEW MISSILE: A report Saturday in the Financial Times alleging China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August has a lot of people stirred up.

The report said the hypersonic missile “circled the globe before speeding towards its target, demonstrating an advanced space capability that caught U.S. intelligence by surprise.”

China has denied the report, insisting the vehicle that flew through low Earth orbit was a “spacecraft, not a missile,” and the test was to see whether the vehicle could be reused.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the flight was of “great significance for reducing the use-cost of spacecraft and could provide a convenient and affordable way to make a round trip for mankind’s peaceful use of space,” according to the Associated Press.

The FT cited “five people familiar with the test” as saying the hypersonic glide vehicle “missed its target by about two-dozen miles,” but nevertheless “showed that China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons.”

A ‘SPUTNIK MOMENT’: But members of Congress are alarmed. “This hypersonic missile is the #CCP’s ‘Sputnik moment’ in their arms race with the U.S. after years of stealing, spying & buying its way to the top,” tweeted Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz. “Wake up, America. We must step up efforts to protect our research, tech, assets & national security NOW, not later.”

“Reports of a recent Chinese test of a hypersonic ‘Fractional Orbital Bombardment System’ should be a cause for concern for the United States and our allies, but it should not be viewed in isolation,” said Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers, lead Republican of the House Armed Services Committee. “In addition to this advanced hypersonic missile test, which reportedly circumnavigated the globe and is capable of delivering a nuclear payload, the Chinese Communist Party is dramatically increasing its nuclear warhead stockpile and ICBMs, and is threatening U.S. allies with nuclear first strikes.”

LINDSEY GRAHAM SEEKS SENATE BRIEFING ON REPORTED CHINESE LAUNCH OF HYPERSONIC MISSILE

NO COMMENT: Asked about the report by reporters traveling with him to Europe, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declined to confirm or deny the report.

“I’m not going to comment on those specific reports,” Austin said during a press event in Georgia. “What I can tell you is that we watch closely China’s development of armaments and advanced capabilities, and systems that will only increase tensions in the region. You heard me say before that China is a challenge, and we’re going to remain focused on that.”

NORTH KOREA TESTS SUB-LAUNCHED MISSILE: For the second time this year, North Korea appears to have fired a short-range ballistic missile from a submarine.

According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, the undersea projectile was launched from the east coast of North Korea, near the port city of Sinpo.

The launch comes as intelligence chiefs from the United States, South Korea, and Japan met in Seoul to discuss how to reengage Pyongyang over stalled talks about denuclearization.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines met with Park Jie-won, the head of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, and Hiroaki Takizawa, Japan’s Cabinet intelligence director, according to the South Korean Yonhap news agency.

HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE KOREA?

AUSTIN SIGNS SECURITY AGREEMENT WITH GEORGIA: While in Tbilisi, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed a new security agreement that will continue U.S. support to Georgian defense forces, including troop training, for the next six years.

“This represents an important new phase in security cooperation between our two countries,” Austin said after a meeting with Georgian Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze. “By modernizing Georgia’s Ministry of Defense and Georgian Defense Forces, this initiative will advance our shared security commitment and strengthen our partnership.”

Russia has occupied 20% of Georgia’s landmass since its 2008 invasion of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

US AND GEORGIAN LEADERS REAFFIRM MILITARY PARTNERSHIP AMID RUSSIAN THREAT

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: North Korea launched ballistic missile, South Korean military says

Washington Examiner: China rejects reports of nuclear-capable hypersonic missile test and claims it was a spacecraft

Washington Examiner: Lindsey Graham seeks Senate briefing on reported Chinese launch of hypersonic missile

Washington Examiner: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell dead at 84 from COVID-19 complications

Washington Examiner: Biden: Colin Powell ‘will be remembered as one of our great Americans’

Washington Examiner: Colin Powell now passes into legend

Washington Examiner: US and Georgian leaders reaffirm military partnership amid Russian threat

Washington Examiner: Top US envoy to Afghanistan steps down

Washington Examiner: Pro-American leader seeks to unseat Hungary’s Viktor Orban

Bloomberg: China’s Orbiting Missile Exploits Weakness In U.S. Defenses

U.S. News and World Report: China Sets Sights On Taiwan With New Hypersonic Missile Test

Roll Call: Congress blocks cuts to top contractors’ weapon budgets

Air Force Magazine: Senate Appropriations Proposes $500 Million Extra for Space Force in 2022

Politico: Lawmakers On Edge Over Lack Of Nominee For Top Joint Chiefs Job

CBS News: State Department watchdog to lead review into Afghanistan withdrawal

Defense News: Turkey: US proposed to sell it F-16 fighters

National Defense: Air Force to Launch Munitions from C-17s

Air Force Magazine: Breaking Defense: Russia Suspends Military NATO Office After Espionage Accusations

Washington Post: Navy contractor voluntarily returns to U.S. to face bribery charge

19fortyfive.com: Is A War with Iran Over Nuclear Weapons Inevitable?

19fortyfive.com: China’s JH-XX Stealth Bomber is a Complete Military Mystery

19fortyfive.com: Columbia: The Navy’s New Ballistic Submarine Has Some Big Problems

Forbes: Opinion: Punishing India For Buying Russian Weapons Would Hurt America And Help China

Calendar

TUESDAY | OCTOBER 19

8 a.m. — CyberScoop virtual Cyberweek conference session: “How DOD is Moving to a More Secure Zero Trust.” Register at https://www.cyberscoop.com/attend/

9:30 a.m. G50 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to consider the nominations of Nickolas Guertin to be director of operational test and evaluation; Alexandra Baker to be deputy undersecretary of defense for policy; John Coffey to be Navy general counsel; and Douglas Bush to be assistant secretary of the army for acquisition, logistics, and technology https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/nomination

10 a.m. — Defense One and NextGov Network Modernization Summit with Rep. Adam Smith, chairman, House Armed Services Committee; Michele Flournoy, co-founder and managing partner, co-founder, WestExec Advisors, Center for a New American Security; and Michael Spirtas, associate director, senior political scientist; International Security and Defense Policy Center, RAND Corporation. https://events.defenseone.com/network-modernization-summit

10 a.m. 1740 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. — The Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies book discussion: Here, Right Matters: An American Story, with author retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, former White House National Security Council member; and Kent Calder, interim dean, Johns Hopkins SAIS. https://jh.zoom.us/webinar/register

12 p.m. — Hudson Institute virtual discussion: “Lethality and the Future of U.S. Military Strategy,” with David Roberts, CEO of GEDI Training; retired Army Lt. Col. David Grossman, author of On Killing; and Bryan Clark, director of Hudson’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology. https://www.hudson.org/events/2028-virtual-event-lethality

12 p.m. — Technology Training Corporation virtual Military Hypersonic Weapon Systems Conference, with Michael White, principal director of the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Modernization’s Hypersonics Office. https://ttcus.com/mhws

12 p.m. — George Mason University National Security Institute event: “The National Security Implications of Antitrust: America’s Adversaries,” with Maureen Ohlhausen, section chair of antitrust and competition law, Baker Botts L.L.P.; Matt Perault, professor, University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science; Alex Petros, policy counsel, Public Knowledge; and Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director, National Security Institute. https://nationalsecurity.gmu.edu/the-national-security-implications

2 p.m. — American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research web event: “Does the US need a national cybersecurity strategy?” with James X. Dempsey, senior policy adviser, geopolitics, technology, and governance, Cyber Policy Center, Stanford University; James Andrew Lewis, director, Strategic Technologies Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Sujit Raman, partner, Sidley Austin LLP; Diane Rinaldo, senior vice president, Beacon Global Strategies; and Shane Tews, nonresident senior fellow, AEI. https://www.aei.org/events/does-the-us-need-a-national-cybersecurity-strategy

WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 20

9 a.m. NATO Headquarters, Brussels — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg briefs reporters ahead of the meeting of the NATO Ministers of Defense, which takes place Oct. 21-22. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news

9:15 a.m. — Heritage Foundation releases its “2022 Index of U.S. Military Strength, with House Armed Services ranking member Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala.; Dakota Wood, senior research fellow for defense programs at Heritage; and Thomas Spoehr, director of the Heritage Center for National Defense https://www.heritage.org/defense/event

12 p.m. — Henry L. Stimson Center virtual book discussion of Winning and Losing the Nuclear Peace: The Rise, Demise, and Revival of Arms Control, with author Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Stimson Center; Joan Rohlfing, president and COO at the Nuclear Threat Initiative; and Barry Blechman, co-founder and fellow at the Stimson Center https://www.stimson.org/event/winning-and-losing-the-nuclear-peace

1 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies International Security Program on the future of the National Guard, with Lt. Gen. Jon Jensen, director of the Army National Guard; and Mark Cancian, CSIS senior adviser https://www.csis.org/events/conversation-ltg-jensen-director-us-army-national-guard

1 p.m. — Center for Security Policy online discussion: “Securing the Border in the Biden Era,” with Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas https://centerforsecuritypolicy.org/events/securing-the-border

THURSDAY | OCTOBER 21

8 a.m. — International Institute for Strategic Studies virtual discussion: “Future U.S. Defense Strategy in East Asia,” with former Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for Strategy and Force Development Elbridge Colby, co-founder and principal of the Marathon Initiative and author of The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict; and Meia Nouwens, senior fellow for Chinese defense policy and military modernization at IISS https://www.iiss.org/events/2021/10/future-us-defense-strategy-in-east-asia

9 a.m. — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin attends the in-person meeting of NATO Ministers of Defense in Brussels, Belgium https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news

11 a.m. — Ploughshares Fund virtual discussion: “Press the Button LIVE: Nuclear Policy in the Biden Administration and Beyond,” with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash.; Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.; former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, member of the Ploughshares Fund Board of Directors; Lilly Adams, independent consultant; Jane Vaynman, assistant professor at Temple University; and Jon Wolfsthal, senior adviser at Global Zero https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register

12:30 p.m. — Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies virtual discussion: “Are We Living through Another Cold War?” with Sergey Radchenko, professor at SAIS Europe; and Francis Gavin, director of the SAIS Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs https://sais.jhu.edu/campus-events

3 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “The recent nuclear submarine deal between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (AUKUS), with former U.S. Ambassador to Australia John Thomas Schieffer https://www.csis.org/events/schieffer-series-aukus-and-its-impacts

FRIDAY | OCTOBER 22 

9 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “U.S.-China Economic Competition,” with Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh; Anne Stevenson-Yang, co-founder and research director at J Capital Research; David Bank, senior adviser at the Cohen Group; Alexander Titus, head of healthcare and life sciences strategy for the global public sector at Google Cloud; and Remco Zwetsloot, research fellow at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology https://www.csis.org/events/discussion-us-china-economic-competition

10 a.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “Women, Peace, and Security 2030: Integrating lessons learned from Afghanistan, with former NATO Special Representative for Women, Peace, and Security Clare Hutchinson https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/women-peace-and-security

3 p.m. — Heritage Foundation virtual discussion: “Japan’s Growing Role in Indo-Pacific Security,” with former national security adviser retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Japan chair at the Hudson Institute; Jeffrey Hornung, political scientist at the RAND Corporation; and Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at Heritage https://www.heritage.org/asia/event/japans-growing-role-indo-pacific-security

MONDAY | OCTOBER 25 

10 a.m. 300 First St. S.E. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in-person Aerospace Nation breakfast event with Gen. Mark Kelly, commander, Air Combat Command; and retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean, Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. RSVP: [email protected]