Lieutenant General (Retired) Robert Ashley joins host Tom Spahr to discuss the shifting landscape of global intelligence and the ongoing work of the Afghanistan War Commission. With the liberal world order facing unprecedented challenges, Ashley emphasizes that the intelligence community (IC) must prioritize relevance and trust to remain effective in an era of closing technological gaps. As a commissioner, Ashley is currently “unpacking” twenty years of strategic decisions in Afghanistan to provide an honest assessment for the American people—a project he likens to the “9/11 Report: Part 2.” He ends with a call for leaders to maintain intellectual rigor, stay curious, build diverse networks, and remain “voracious consumers of information” to navigate a complex future.
What’s the core reason that the IC exists? It’s to reduce uncertainty, right, for decision makers. And so one of the lessons I think that is part of this is you’re never going to really know everything.
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Robert Ashley is a retired Lieutenant General in the U.S. Army with 36 years of service. During his final three years in uniform he served as the 21st Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Before that, he served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, G2, of the United States Army, and completed 6 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, as the Director of Intelligence, United States Central Command, and was the Senior Intelligence Officer for the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan. He currently serves as one of the 16 bipartisan commissioners on the Afghanistan War Commission, established by the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act to examine the strategic, diplomatic, and operational decisions made during the war in Afghanistan.
Thomas W. Spahr is the DeSerio Chair of Strategic and Theater Intelligence at the U.S. Army War College. He is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army and holds a Ph.D. in History from The Ohio State University. He teaches courses at the Army War College on Military Campaigning and Intelligence.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of Defense.
Photo Description: A briefer holds a briefing book prior to the Presidential Daily Briefing in the Outer Oval Office, March 10, 2009.
Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza