James Stavridis: A Greek-American Admiral Named NATOʼs Top Commander

Washington.- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday chose Navy Admiral James G. Stavridis to be NATOʼs top commander as the alliance prepares to step up its efforts in the Afghan war. Admiral Stavridis is now head of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Latin America. Previously he was the senior military assistant to Donald Rumsfeld when Rumsfeld was Pentagon chief.

Top U.S. military officers are nominated by the U.S. president and require U.S. Senate confirmation. The supreme commanderʼs appointment also must be approved by NATOʼs North Atlantic Council of alliance members.

Stavridis would be the first naval officer to hold the prestigious post of Supreme Allied Commander Europe. He would replace U.S. Army General John Craddock, who has been at NATO since December 2006 and is expected to retire.

At Southern Command, he has integrated military operations closely with the work of civilian agencies — an approach U.S. and NATO officials say is essential in Afghanistan to win over local people in the battle against insurgents.

President Barack Obamaʼs administration is reviewing the Afghan war strategy in the face of rising violence by the Taliban and other insurgents. The review is due to be completed before a NATO summit on April 3-4.

Admiral Stavridis was born in West Palm Beach Florida, on February 15 1955. He is married to Laura Hall, author of Navy Spouses Guide and they have two daughters, Christina and Julia.

Admiral Stavridis received the 2006 AHEPA Medal of Freedom Award at the 84th Supreme Convention in Hollywood, Florida and the news about his appointment was received with joy by the major Greek American organization.

“AHEPA welcomes news agency reports that Admiral James G. Stavridis is expected to be nominated NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe by President Barack Obama, announced Supreme President Ike Gulas.

“We are thrilled to hear news of Admiral Stavridisʼ appointment,” said Gulas. “We are extremely proud of his outstanding accomplishments, and we are confident, upon his confirmation, that he will serve our nation and lead the Alliance with excellence and distinction.”

Admiral Stavridis always remained proud for his Greek heritage. Last December he attended the grand opening of the exhibition at the Onassis Center and in his many lectures and books he published he often quotes Greek bravery and military tactics.

In a follow-up letter to AHEPA after receiving his honor, Admiral Stavridis wrote: “Thank you for your part in my award of the AHEPA Medal of Freedom…It meant the world to me and my family to be so honored, and made me feel very proud to be a Greek-American.”

Greek American Ship Owner Markos Marinakis, a Chian and a friend o Admiral Stravridis, had recendly proposed Stavridis for Greek Paradeʼs Grand Marshal. Asked by the Greek News to comment on his appointment to NATOʼs Supreme Commander, Marinakis said:

“Admiral James Stavridis not only he is the first naval officer to potentially hold command of this post but the first Greek-American to hold such a prestigious and honorable position; the Greek-American community is beaming with pride for his success.

Admiral Stavridis is an intellectual, highly motivated and dynamic individual. World will benefit to be led by one more man who has proven that he is driven to excellence by an inner self-discipline, high-integrity and commitment to serve the greater good of human kind. It is good to know that men of his caliber with great knowledge and wisdom will be there to lead the way. As a wartime commander he would be the best man for this position, he has the military experience necessary to take on this role. He exemplifies the values of the ancient Greeks for freedom and democracy and holds to high esteem the first naval volunteers of the Athenian Trireme headed by Themistocles in the Battle of Salamis. In his words “tomorrow we row for freedom” and peace.

I want to congratulate his and wish him all the best and much success as he embarks on this new ʽexpeditionʼ”.

In an article published about Admiral Stavridis two years ago in the journal of the National Defense University “The Message Board” we read that his father George served as a colonel in the Marine Corps and the family lived in Athens from 1962 to 1965 while the older man, who remains today one of his heroes, was the US naval attaché there.

His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Greece. Stavridis recalled with feeling the fact that “the whole immigrant experience is very real to me, part of my life experience.”

Stavridisʼ grandfather immigrated to the United States in the 1920s, opening up a restaurant. “I love to cook,” the SOUTHCOM commander says. “I have been around cooks and cooking my whole life and my mom is a wonderful hand in the kitchen.” Was cooking the road not taken, he was asked? “It is,” he responded, laughing. “That is a very perceptive question. That is a pursuit that would be of interest to me in another, parallel, life.

Stavridis says that the passions of his youth are still those that move him now—and also include reading and playing sports, particularly racket sports. In high school he played varsity tennis and even junior varsity basketball, “counter-intuitively because I am not the tallest guy in the world, but I love basketball.” Then, like now, Stavridis was 5ʼ6”—“on a good day.” He also played tennis and squash on the varsity teams at the Naval Academy.

“My other activities tended to revolve around writing,” he recalled. “I was the editor of my school newspaper in high school, at McClintock High School in Tempe, Arizona, for my last two years. At the Naval Academy I was the editor of the Log magazine, which is the publication of the Naval Academy. I was also involved in leadership opportunities—I was what was called a midshipman commander, and was one of the brigade leaders as a first classman, or a senior.”

Stavridis says he grew up wanting to be an officer in the Marine Corps, like his dad, and went off to the Naval Academy convinced that was his path. However, while at the Naval Academy he went off to sea on a shop. “I loved it,” he said. “I knew immediately then that what I wanted to do was to be a captain of a warship. So I followed my fatherʼs steps into the service but veered off from the Marines into the Navy.”

Stavridis, who has been married 28 years, met his wife Laura Hall, when he was eight and she was three years old in Athens, where her father was the assistant naval attaché.

“We played together as small children, our families stayed in touch over the years and we met again and fell in love when I was a young junior officer in the Navy in the early 1980s,” he recalled. “We got married in 1981.”

QUOTES ABOUT GREECE
In a commentary published in NY POST (November 17, 2007) he says:
“Everyone who wears the uniform today is a volunteer. And we think here in the United States that we invented that idea, but actually it goes back to the very roots of democracy. And I’m Greek-American, so I’m allowed to tell this story of how volunteer militaries began.

If you go back 2,500 years, the first democracy in history, Athens, was faced with an invasion by the Persian Empire. The Persians outnumbered the Greeks five to one and they were invading Greece from the sea. They had an advantage, five to one, in the ships, in the soldiers, in the sailors that they brought.

But the difference was the Persian forces were all conscripts and slaves. The Athenians, to a man, were volunteers; they were the first volunteer force fighting for a democracy.

Before the Great Battle of Salamis, Themistocles, the Greek admiral, called his volunteers together – the men who would the next day literally row the galleys – the ships, the trireme galleys of war. And he said to them, “tomorrow you must row for your children. Tomorrow you must row for your parents. Tomorrow you must row for your city.

“And tomorrow,” he said, “you must row for freedom.”

My friends, that is what everyone of your soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and coastguardsmen do today – they row for freedom.”

Admiral Stavridis is known as a pragmatist leader and maybe his appointment reflects on the change of priorities for US and NATO alliance that President Barack Obama promoted. In an article published in the “Strategic Communication and National Security” (issue 46, 3d quarter 2007 / JFQ), he offers his view on the notion of “Accepting Defeat and Moving On” :

“Some strategic communication battles are unwinnable. There will be moments when no matter how effective the plan, the message is not going to have any effect. This can occur for a wide variety of reasons, generally when the audience is simply unwilling to listen to anything at all. For example, when the Persian empire sought to invade Greece in 300 BCE, the Persian emperor Darius crafted a clever strategic communication plan that sought to divide the Greek city-states and offered reasonably benign terms to any state willing to sign on with the Persians. But the Greeks were utterly devoted to their nascent form of democracy and were unreceptive, leading to war. Despite having a rational message, a fairly good series of messengers, and a coherent strategy, Darius was unable to find an outcome other than war. And when he was eventually defeated by a coalition of the Greek city-states, he was wise enough to turn his attentions to the east and move on. So it must be, occasionally, in the world of strategic planning.”

It is hard to find an instance that Stavridis hadnʼt have mentioned his Hellenic heritage in public speeches. In his remarks at Americas Quarterly Launch (October 22, 2007) in front of mostly Spanish speaking audience he says:

“Unlike my family – Greek Americans – with my father who spoke excellent Greek…my Greek is, well, awful, and my daughters donʼt speak it at all. But Spanish is flourishing because it can – because itʼs a functional language here. Steadily, more channels and broader programming is available in Spanish.”

SHORT BIO
Admiral Jim Stavridis is a 1976 distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a native of Florida. His initial sea tour was as the Antisubmarine Warfare Officer aboard USS Hewitt (DD-966). He was then selected for the Carrier Readiness Improvement Program, and served as Propulsion and Electrical Officer in USS Forrestal (CV-59). Subsequent sea tours included service as Operations Officer in USS Valley Forge (CG-50) during Operation Ernest Will and Executive Officer in USS Antietam (CG -54) during Operation Desert Shield.

He commanded USS Barry (DDG-52) from 1993 through 1995, completing deployments to Haiti, Bosnia, and the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Vigilant Warrior. Barry won the Battenberg Cup, USS Arizona Memorial Trophy, Ney Award, Golden Anchor, and Battle “E” under his command.

Adm. Stavridis assumed command of Destroyer Squadron Twenty-One in March 1998 and deployed to the Arabian Gulf as Sea Combat Commander with Abraham Lincoln Battle Group. He received the Navy League’s John Paul Jones Award for Inspirational Leadership for his tour as Commander, Destroyer Squadron Twenty-One.

Ashore, he served in the Navy’s Strategic Concepts Group (N-513) as a strategic planner, on the CNO’s Executive Panel Staff (N-00K) as a long range planner, as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, as Chief of the Policy Branch on the Joint Staff (J-5), and as Executive Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy. His first Flag assignment was as Deputy Director for Long Range Planning (N-81). Following September 11, 2001, he became Director, Navy Operations Group (Deep Blue) at the start of the Global War on Terrorism.

He commanded Enterprise Carrier Strike Group from August 2002 to May 2004, deploying in support of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Arabian Gulf.

Adm. Stavridis earned a Ph.D. and MALD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in international relations in 1984, where he won the Gullion Prize as outstanding student in 1983. He is a 1992 distinguished graduate of the National War College.

His decorations and awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (5), Meritorious Service Medal (3), Navy Commendation Medal (4), Navy Achievement Medal, Adm. Arleigh Burke Award, Newport Navy League Award, and various campaign and unit decorations. He is author or co-author of current editions of Division Officer’s Guide, Watch Officers Guide, and Command At Sea.

HIS CHALLENGE
About 70,000 foreign troops, including 38,000 Americans, are trying to stabilize Afghanistan. Most of them are members of NATOʼs International Security Assistance Force, commanded by U.S. Army General David McKiernan.

Obama last month approved the deployment of 17,000 extra U.S. troops to Afghanistan and could send more — as McKiernan has requested — after the review is complete.

Stavridis has no previous experience of Afghanistan but he is regarded as intellectual, ambitious and energetic.

He holds a doctorate in international relations and has cultivated a reputation as a creative thinker, writing a blog and organizing movie nights at his Miami headquarters featuring Latin American films to educate staff about regional issues.

Although Afghanistan would be Stavridisʼ priority, the NATO post involves juggling a multitude of issues from relations with Russia to peacekeeping in Kosovo.

For decades during the Cold War, the supreme allied commanderʼs job was the preserve of U.S. Army generals, most famously Dwight Eisenhower in the early 1950s before he went on to become U.S. president. But an Air Force general and a Marine Corps general have held the post in the past decade.