2018 Interview with Secretary Rumsfeld, Foundation President — Transcript

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1. 0:00after you left the Department of Defense
2. 0:02in 2006 what inspired you enjoys to
3. 0:06decide to start the Rumsfeld foundation
4. 0:10well there were several reasons one was
5. 0:15one element of the foundation of course
6. 0:18involves military families and
7. 0:21individuals who serve the country and I
8. 0:24had been a one of the sponsors of
9. 0:28legislation to create the all-volunteer
10. 0:30military the reality is that we have a
11. 0:34probably the finest military on the face
12. 0:37of the earth and one of the central
13. 0:41characteristics is that there is no one
14. 0:44in there who didn't volunteer
15. 0:46there's no one there who was being
16. 0:48forced to be there every single person
17. 0:52decided on their own that they wanted to
18. 0:54make that decision for themselves and
19. 0:57and contribute through their service in
20. 1:00uniform that fact it seems to me is an
21. 1:08important one in and the foundation has
22. 1:15one of as one of our goals they a
23. 1:17purpose in supporting those people and
24. 1:20supporting their families and
25. 1:22recognizing that they have made a choice
26. 1:24that benefits the country to be sure and
27. 1:28that may and that it is important that
28. 1:33that be appreciated and that we place a
29. 1:36value on it that the country says it
30. 1:42good for you thank you
31. 1:45another element of the foundation is the
32. 1:48Graduate fellow program there's no
33. 1:51particular magnet drawing people into
34. 1:54government conversely there is from time
35. 1:58to time quite a bit of criticism of
36. 2:00government and it would be a shame if
37. 2:03people were dissuaded from making that
38. 2:07choice or from studying
39. 2:11subject matter that is relevant to
40. 2:13public policy and public service and and
41. 2:17I think that it's probably a good thing
42. 2:19if for us to be doing what we're doing
43. 2:23and for others to be demonstrating an
44. 2:28interest in the importance of public
45. 2:31service the importance of government and
46. 2:34the importance that government benefit
47. 2:38from the involvement the engagement the
48. 2:40interest and the contributions of
49. 2:42talented interested well-educated
50. 2:46honorable to human with respect to the
51. 2:48greater Central Asian countries as I say
52. 2:50those countries didn't have extensive
53. 2:53interaction and it is a benefit to
54. 2:58people in in those age groups as their
55. 3:01careers are evolving for them to know
56. 3:04people in similar fields from those 10
57. 3:08countries and as I say it may very well
58. 3:14be that the network that's involved
59. 3:17evolve in the greater Central Asia
60. 3:20region may be the single most important
61. 3:23thing our foundations done because there
62. 3:26there has been no particular linkage
63. 3:29among those 10 countries at all and now
64. 3:33there is no we have annual meetings
65. 3:35these people are now traveling to each
66. 3:38other's countries they are talking to
67. 3:41each other they're sharing stories and
68. 3:44experiences and it seemed to me that it
69. 3:46would benefit Central Asia and the
70. 3:48Caucasus and certainly benefit
71. 3:51Afghanistan and Mongolia to be part of
72. 3:54something that was bigger than any one
73. 3:57of those 10 countries and and to have a
74. 4:00linkage and the network that's evolving
75. 4:03in that part of the world each one of
76. 4:06those countries is important in and of
77. 4:08itself but the 10 countries as a region
78. 4:12have an importance that is considerable
79. 4:15and quite different from the weight and
80. 4:19heft and influence of any one of the
81. 4:21well a few months ago mark 10 years
82. 4:24since the foundation was first
83. 4:25established so thinking back on when you
84. 4:29are first conceptualizing what the
85. 4:31foundation might do and what your aims
86. 4:32were what stands out to you now a decade
87. 4:36and as far as the Foundation's evolution
88. 4:39over this past decade well I suppose
89. 4:43it's the first thing that leaps to my
90. 4:46mind is it's probably better in life to
91. 4:48be lucky than smart and the purpose we
92. 4:54had in our minds when we launched these
93. 4:57various programs the three programs have
94. 5:02all evolved in a way that's been
95. 5:04positive and rewarding we're pleased
96. 5:08with the way it's involved we're we're
97. 5:12pleased with what we see with the
98. 5:13Graduate Fellows program were pleased
99. 5:15with the assistance we've been able to
100. 5:20provide with respect to military
101. 5:22charities and and grateful to the people
102. 5:25that run those Charities of the
103. 5:27attention and the dedication they
104. 5:29demonstrate to be supportive of people
105. 5:33who serve in the military and their
106. 5:34families and and the progress we see in
107. 5:41the greater central asia' to such that
108. 5:42we've been in the process of thinking
109. 5:45through a five-year plan a ten-year plan
110. 5:47a 15-year plan for the foundation so
111. 5:50that to the extent the people who will
112. 5:53be involved when we're not involved
113. 5:55continue to believe that that some good
114. 5:59is being accomplished some things that
115. 6:03are helpful to our country and to our
116. 6:05concepts of the value of free political
117. 6:08and free economic systems to the extent
118. 6:11that that we see progress and
119. 6:13contribution we'd like to see the
120. 6:16foundation continue over a period of
121. 6:19time and and and to the extent that
122. 6:22these networks evolve in a way they very
123. 6:26likely will prove over time to be the
124. 6:28strength
125. 6:30the programs that we've initiated