Michael Patrick Mulroy
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Michael Patrick Mulroy | |
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Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East | |
In office October 20, 2017 – December 1, 2019 | |
Personal details | |
Nationality |
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Spouse(s) | Mary Beth Mulroy |
Children | 2[1] |
Education | Augusta University (BA) Samford University (JD) |
Profession | National Security |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch/service | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Years of service | 1988–2014 (U.S. Marine Corps) 1998–2017 (CIA) 2017–2019 (DoD) |
Rank | Officer and Enlisted Paramilitary Operations Officer Senior Executive Service |
Unit | 4th Marine Division Special Activities Center Secretary of Defense |
Battles/wars | War in Afghanistan Iraq War War on Terror |
Michael Patrick Mulroy is the former United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD)[2] for the Middle East,[3] serving under Secretary James N. Mattis and Secretary Mark T. Esper. He was responsible for representing the United States Department of Defense (DoD) for defense policy and for Middle East policy in the interagency.[4][5][6][7] He is also a retired CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer and a United States Marine.[8]
After leaving the Pentagon, he co-founded the Lobo Institute along with U.S. Navy SEAL Eric Oehlerich.[9] He also began serving on the board of the nonprofit Grassroots Reconciliation Group, became a Special Advisor to the United Nations,[10] the Co-director of the Yemen Steering Initiative,[11] a Senior Fellow for national security and defense policy with the Middle East Institute,[12] and an ABC News National Security Analyst,[13][14][15] and the co-president of End Child Soldiering.[16]
Mulroy’s post-service efforts focus on educating people on global conflicts,[17][18] combatting extremism,[19] and the philosophy of stoicism.[20][21][22]
Career[]
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) service[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Mick_Mulroy_DoD_photo.jpg)
Mulroy was DASD from October 20, 2017 to December 1, 2019. The DASD for the Middle East is a member of the Senior Executive Service in the Secretary of Defense's office.[23] Mulroy was responsible for DoD policy and for representing the DoD in the interagency for the countries of Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.[6][7] As DASD for the Middle East, Mulroy was responsible for implementing the National Defense Strategy of 2018 in that region and the Irregular Warfare Annex (IWA) to that strategy.[24]
At a workshop at RAND Corporation in October 2019, Mulroy officially rolled out the IWA, saying it was a critical component of the 2018 NDS. He noted that irregular warfare (IW) included counter-insurgency (COIN), counter-terrorism (CT), unconventional warfare (UW), foreign internal defense (FID), sabotage and subversion, stabilization (warfare), and information operations (IO). He continued that IW had been perceived as limited to the CT effort used to fight violent extremist organizations but should be applied to all competition areas, including the great powers of China and Russia and the rogue states of North Korea and Iran. Mulroy said that the U.S. must be prepared to respond with "aggressive, dynamic, and unorthodox approaches to IW" to be competitive across these priorities.[25]
In late 2020, during the delay in the transition between the Trump Administration to the Biden Administration, the incoming team for the DoD reached out to several former members of then-Secretary James Mattis for assistance. Mulroy was one of the former officials and one of the few that agreed to assist.[26]
CIA service[]
Mulroy is a retired Paramilitary Operations Office (PMOO) from the Special Activities Center (formerly named Special Activities Division) of the CIA. PMOOs are a hybrid of a clandestine intelligence officer and a military special operator, belonging to the Special Operations Group (SOG) within SAC.[27] They are recruited primarily from the United States Special Operations Command.[28][29]
Mulroy joined the CIA in 1999. While at the CIA, Mulroy spent most of career in conflict areas.[30] His positions included service as a Chief of a Department in Special Activities Center (SAC), a Chief of Station, a Chief of an Expeditionary Team, a Chief of Base, a Deputy Chief of a Branch in Special Activities Division (SAD) and a PMOO in a Branch in SAD, among others.[31]
His CIA awards include the Intelligence Star, the Intelligence Commendation Medal, the Career Intelligence Medal and the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal, among others.[31] He is also a recipient of the State Department's Superior Honor Award.[31]
Military service[]
Mulroy is a retired U.S. Marine and served as a commissioned officer and an enlisted Marine on active duty and in the reserves. He served as an Armored Crewman (United States military occupation code (MOS) 1811) of a M1 Abrams tank, a Judge Advocate (MOS 4412) and an Infantry Officer (MOS 0302).[6] His military awards include the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, among others.[32]
Afghanistan[]
Mulroy was against the decision to pull all U.S. military forces out of Afghanistan. He explained that the U.S. should have kept a residual force that could have preserved everything that the coalition and Afghan partners had fought for the last 20 years.[33]
Advocacy for child soldiers[]
My Star in the Sky[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Yale_Screening_%22My_Star_in_the_Sky%22.jpg/220px-Yale_Screening_%22My_Star_in_the_Sky%22.jpg)
Mulroy is a co-maker along with U.S. Navy SEAL Eric Oehlerich, of the documentary, My Star in the Sky, which in the Acholi language is “Lakalatwe.” Foreign Policy reports that the documentary came about after Mulroy and Oehlerich met the Opoka's during Operation Observant Compass (OOC).[15] Mulroy called OOC a “model” for how to address child soldiers using influence operations instead of lethal force and working with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)s who found mothers of child soldiers and had them broadcast messages over the radio to come home. Mulroy said that he hopes that OOC serves as a model for future programs to address child soldiers, as well as other operations, as it showed how the U.S. military could use “soft power, influence operations” and other aspects of so-called “irregular warfare” to fight the problem.[15]
This documentary has been screened at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs,[34] the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C. based think tank for international affairs,[35] the Enough Project, a non-profit group to end crimes against humanity,[36] Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy,[37] and the Truman National Security Project.[38][39][15]
The Grassroots Reconciliation Group[]
Mulroy is on the Board of Directors for the Grassroots Reconciliation Group (GRG).[40] GRG was initiated as part of a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded program called the Northern Uganda Peace Initiative (NUPI) to reconcile and rehabilitate former child soldiers of Joseph Kony's LRA.
Comments[]
In an interview for the podcast Frog Logic, a podcast primarily for the special operations community, Mulroy said, "I don’t think anyone became a Marine, or a SEAL, or a [CIA] paramilitary officer with the idea that they were going to fight a child.”[41]
Philosophy[]
Mulroy is a proponent of Stoic philosophy. In an essay in modern Stoicism entitled, “A Case for the Philosopher King,” Mulroy advocated for a return of teaching virtue ethics in school and modeling examples of those that should be emulated like Marcus Aurelius, James Stockdale, John Lewis, among others. He did this after citing the precipitous decline in the confidence Americans have in one another.[42][43]
In an article for ABC News essay entitled, “Where philosophy intersects with war training: stoic soldiers,” Mulroy and Donald Robertson advocated for using stoicism as a philosophy in the military because of its focus on wisdom, justice, temperance, and courage.[44][45] He advocated for the U.S. military to incorporate stoicism into its basic training at a conference hosted by the U.S. Army National Guard in January 2021 and in a conference hosted by Modern Stoicism as one of the keynote speakers, along with retired National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and Georgetown University Professor Nancy Sherman.[46][47]
References[]
- ^ "Michael (Mick) P. Mulroy > U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > Biography View". dod.defense.gov. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
- ^ "Video: US points finger at Saudi prince in Jamal Khashoggi's murder". ABC News. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ Gilsinan, Kathy (July 11, 2019). "The U.S. Is Worried About China's Investments—This Time in Israel". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ "Senior Executive Service Announcements". defense.gov. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
- ^ "Mulroy Assigned Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East". SIGNAL Magazine. January 12, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
- ^ a b c "Michael (Mick) P. Mulroy > U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > Biography View". www.defense.gov. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
- ^ a b "U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council Hosts Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East". usuaebusiness.org. April 19, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
- ^ News, S. O. F. (October 18, 2017). "Special Operations News Update 20171018". sof.news. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
- ^ Seligman, Lara. "Hollowed-Out Pentagon Begins to Staff Up". Foreign Policy. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ "The Lawfare Podcast: Yemen's Ongoing Tragedy". Lawfare. August 26, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
- ^ "Monday Briefing: A new round of Iranian-Saudi talks". Middle East Institute. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ "Experts". Middle East Institute.
- ^ Margolin, Josh; Ramos, Stephanie; Hutchinson, Bill (December 8, 2019). "FBI probing whether Pensacola naval base suspect watched mass-shooting videos before attack, sources say". ABC News.
- ^ "Board of Directors - Grassrootsgroup.org | Grassroots Reconciliation Group". grassrootsgroup.org. March 11, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Seligman, Lara (November 8, 2019). "The Child Soldier Crisis: 'Kids Are Cheap'". foreignpolicy.com.
- ^ "Analysis: How the US can combat the soldiering of children - World News - ABC News Radio". abcnewsradioonline.com. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ "Jackson hosts third annual Special Operations Conference". Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ "'Start Here': Top Iranian general killed in US airstrike and Australia wildfires intensify". ABC News. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ "Will there be an American insurgency? - National News - ABC News Radio". abcnewsradioonline.com. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ Sadler, Author Gregory (September 26, 2020). "A Case for a Philosopher - King by Michael Patrick Mulroy". Modern Stoicism. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ Piercey, Author Adam (December 11, 2020). "Podcast #16: Mick Mulroy, and Where Philosophy and Soldiering Intersect". Modern Stoicism. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ "Why the Military should teach Stoicism - Politics News - ABC News Radio". abcnewsradioonline.com. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ "Senior Executive Service Announcements". U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
- ^ "U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council Hosts Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East". The U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council. April 19, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ Monica, 1776 Main Street Santa; California 90401-3208. "NSRD Hosts Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, Michael Mulroy". www.rand.org. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ "With transition stalled, Biden camp turns to former Trump administration officials for guidance". ABC News. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
- ^ Robberson, Tod (October 27, 2002). "CIA commandos remain covert". Dallas Morning News.
- ^ Waller, Douglas (February 3, 2003). "The CIA's Secret Army: The CIA's Secret Army". Time. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
- ^ Gup, Ted (2000). The Book of Honor: Covert Lives and Classified Deaths at the CIA.
- ^ Williams, Katie (November 4, 2019). "The US Might Have Warded Off Turkey's Syria Invasion, Says DOD's Outgoing Mideast Policy Chief". Defense One.
- ^ a b c "Michael (Mick) P. Mulroy > U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > Biography". www.defense.gov. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021.
- ^ "Michael (Mick) P. Mulroy". www.defense.gov. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ "Monday Briefing: A new round of Iranian-Saudi talks". Middle East Institute. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
- ^ "Screening of "My Star in the Sky" and Q&A with filmmakers". The MacMillan Center. January 17, 2019.
- ^ "My Star in the Sky: A Movie Screening and Reception". www.atlanticcouncil.org. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
- ^ "My Star in the Sky: A Movie Screening and Reception". enoughproject.org. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
- ^ "Sept 24: LRA film screening in Georgetown - Grassrootsgroup.org | Grassroots Reconciliation Group". grassrootsgroup.org.
- ^ "Film Screening of "My Star in the Sky" at Truman National Security Project – Lobo Institute". Retrieved August 11, 2020.
- ^ "Film and Panel Discussion on Lord's Resistance Army, "My Star in the Sky"". Eventbrite.
- ^ "Board of Directors". grassrootsgroup.org. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
- ^ "The Froglogic Podcast: Froglogic Podcast EP #39 Michael Mulroy & Eric Oehlerich CIA PMCO And Navy SEAL Help Child Soldiers on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
- ^ Sadler, Author Gregory (September 26, 2020). "A Case for a Philosopher-King by Michael Patrick Mulroy". Modern Stoicism. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
- ^ Mick Mulroy, Philosopher Kings, Ethics, and Wisdom - Modern Stoicism Podcast, retrieved May 26, 2021
- ^ "Where philosophy intersects with war training: stoic soldiers - World News - ABC News Radio". abcnewsradioonline.com. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
- ^ Piercey, Author Adam (December 11, 2020). "Podcast #16: Mick Mulroy, and Where Philosophy and Soldiering Intersect". Modern Stoicism. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
- ^ Mick Mulroy – Stoicism for the Military, retrieved May 26, 2021
- ^ "Stoicon-x Military Conference: Courage, Honor, and Stoicism". Eventbrite. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
External links[]
Media related to Michael Patrick Mulroy at Wikimedia Commons
- Lobo Institute
- United States Department of Defense officials
- Living people
- People of the Central Intelligence Agency
- Trump administration personnel
- Counterinsurgency theorists
- Counter-terrorism theorists
- Guerrilla warfare theorists
- United States Marine Corps officers
- Augusta University alumni
- Recipients of the Intelligence Star
- American documentary film directors
- American people of Irish descent
- Documentary war filmmakers