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Gen. Stanley McChrystal on the impact of sequestrations, growing use of drones in the Middle East and his new memoir.
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If president bomber on congress can't reach an agreement by march the first and -- don't like -- reached agreement.
Defense cuts will be on the -- 43 billion dollars can be cut from the defense budget this year.
Joining us now is general Stanley McChrystal is also -- of the book.
-- share of the task this general roundly American forces in Afghanistan Iran all special forces general about what that right.
So.
Well I -- part of our special forces I ran our counter terrorist forces in the region for about five years from 20032008.
Everything else is right -- there's a terrific credentials anyway you slice and thanks for joining us.
My question is this.
If we go ahead with these military costs 43 billion dollars this yeah.
All we suddenly going to see a lot of people coming out of the service back into civilian life on the flood of new people in the economy.
Well you'll see a little of that what more you'll see is ships going and staying import vehicles not.
Training with forces airplanes not flying and the -- starting -- hollow out.
We've already made a number of defense cuts responsibly over the last couple of years and projected others out I think this particular type of cut.
Is irresponsible in the way that it would be forced on the force US soldier -- not a politician but I'm gonna last you almost a political question.
You think these costs will be put in place when push comes to shelf.
Well I'm the eternal optimist I think they are too stupid.
To actually go through so -- like to believe that sanity will prevail okay I'll got another question for this is from somebody -- completely outside the -- free world.
Seems to me that drones are really winning big time.
Al-Qaeda seems to be on the run in the middle of the desert chase down hunted down by drones.
-- mighty going too far to say that drones are -- huge winners here.
What -- you wouldn't be going too far to say that drones are incredibly effective they're good at reconnaissance and they're also good -- strike.
But they have -- another unintended consequence -- -- often creating resistance or opposition to what America does around the world.
So drawn to one of those things we have to use of extraordinary care or because some of the opposition that we get in parts of Pakistan and other parts of the world.
Come from a perception of American arrogance.
In the use of things like drugs it's gotta be a very mature balanced approach that would it be true decided that we would drawing boots on the ground to fight al-Qaeda and using Haim pie in the sky looked down shoot a -- issued a -- -- -- itself.
What you won't win a war that way be because show it can only be part of a strategy -- -- Obama's made that clear.
But in a place like Afghanistan or even Pakistan which are really counting on is the host nation forces standing up and doing their part.
To control areas of the ground on -- population and that then in combination they can be very effective.
General I wanna talk about your book because I have actually read much of it my share of the task is a good book is a very easy read.
To me it was almost like a thrill -- it was great stuff.
But I have a question what -- all of -- they have very talented man.
In the military brilliant organizer.
How are you gonna put those talents to walk in the civilian life.
Well it's interest thing -- what I left the service.
I co founded a group called McChrystal group that what we do is where about half former special operators and half bright young civilians and we work with some major corporations.
Hewlett-Packard.
Scotts Miracle-Gro.
Seagate technologies.
And we help them make the kinds of changes that we found were necessary.
Particularly in the joint special operations command in Iraq from 2003 -- 2008 what we'll and I found the similarities.
Strike and it what what kind of things I mean what what do you get from special forces organization and command.
That you can applied to a major corporation.
-- what we found in Iraq particularly was that the situation had changed it was faster we were facing and networked enemy.
That was extraordinarily effective and we had to change the centralized system that we used.
Make ourselves and -- network in which information moved instantaneously.
And then we have the decentralized.
Decision making so that people very close to the problem could make decisions.
But do it within the context of what we called shared consciousness understanding the big picture.
It almost turned upside down that traditional hierarchy that I've grown up within the military.
What we find in civilian corporations as many of the same challenges of -- -- organizations difficulty communicating.
Sometimes ponderous decision making process sees that don't produce exactly the new wants.
Decisions that they need.
General Stanley McChrystal iconoclast.
Management consultant and -- -- great book thanks for joining us general it's an all about him.
Start my -- thank you thank you so.
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