Gen. Mark Milley: The 60 Minutes Interview

General Mark Millie completed a. four-year term as chairman of the Joint. Chiefs of Staff the nation's highest. ranking military officer on September. 30th he told us he spent most of his. time working to avoid a direct conflict. with Russia and China while the country. watched him have a very public falling. out with former president Trump the man. who picked him for the job General. Millie's times serving President Joe. Biden had its own challenges including.

America's calamitous withdrawal from. Afghanistan as well as providing Ukraine. with billions of dollars worth of. American military equipment a few hours. before we sat down with the general at. the Pentagon he'd had his final phone. call with the commander of Ukraine's. armed. forces the story will continue in a. moment the counter offensive that the. ukrainians are running is still ongoing. um the progress as uh many many people. have noted is slow but it is steady and.

they are making progress on a day-to-day. basis but expelling 200,000 Russian. soldiers No Easy Task very hard very. hard how long is this going to look like. this a year five years well you can't. put a Time on it but it'll be a. considerable length of time and it's. going to be long and hard and very. bloody Russia occupies 41,000 square. miles of Ukraine the front line extends. about the distance from Atlanta to. Washington DC in Congress this past week. Republicans ended Kevin McCarthy's.

speakership and for now more Aid to. Ukraine according to the White House of. the 113 billion already committed. there's only enough left to last a few. more months with all of the issues. facing Americans at home why is this. worth it if Ukraine loses and Putin wins. I think you would be certainly. increasing if not doubling your defense. budget in the years ahead and you will. increase the probability of a great. power war in the next 10 to 15 years I. think it' be a very dangerous situation.

if if Putin's allowed to win Ukraine. Russia obviously is what drives this. meeting today the chairman of the Joint. Chiefs is the commander and Chief's. principal military adviser but commands. no troops in battle I am obligated uh. regardless of consequences to give my. advice to the president but no president. is obligated to follow that advice this. past August General Millie invited us to. board the USS Constitution in Boston. Harbor not far from where he grew up. we're the only uh military in the world. that swear an oath not to a king a queen.

a tyrant a wouldbe tyrant or a dictator. we swear an oath to an idea the idea. that is American it's and it's embodied. in that document the Constitution which. sets up our form of government in 2021. General Millie had counseled President. Biden to keep 2,500 troops in and around. Cobell instead Mr Biden ordered a. complete withdrawal to end America's. longest war after 20 years the disaster. that followed will be part of both of. their legacies I go through the entire.

uh withdrawal from uh Afghanistan. chapter and verse all the time that was. a a strategic failure for the United. States the enemy occupied the capital. city of the country that you were. supporting so to me uh that hurts it. hurts a big way but no matter what pain. I feel or anyone else feels nothing. comes even close to the pain of those. that were killed to those who served in. Afghanistan for two decades and lost. family members and friends and wonder. was it worth it that's always the.

question right so 2461 killed in action. by the enemy in Afghanistan over 20. years was it worth it look at I can't. answer that for other people this is a. tough business that we're in this. military business it's unforgiving The. Crucible of combat's unforgiving people. die they lose their arms they lose their. legs it's an incredibly difficult uh. life but is it worth it look around you. uh look ask yourself the question uh for. me I've answered it many many times over.

and that's why I stay in uniform and. that's why I maintain my oath his. commitment to that oath would be both. tested and questioned by Donald Trump. while their relationship began with kind. words uh Mark Milly he's a great. gentleman he's a great Patriot he's a. great Soldier after the January 6th. Insurrection the two men would not speak. again what do we want we their public. estrangement started in the spring of. 2020 when protests for racial Justice. some violent spread across the country.

including to Washington DC perhaps more. than any other chairman in the role you. have become ins snarled in politics and. arguably threats to the Constitution. what have you learned from that well I. think it's important to to keep your. North Star which is the Constitution we. the military are not only apolitical we. are nonpartisan you can't pick sides. June 1st 2020 was that a turning point. for you as chairman I think it was yeah. I realized that.

stepped into a political Minefield and I. shouldn't. have he's talking about the day when. President Trump threatened to invoke the. Insurrection act and deploy the US Army. to put down the unrest on America's. streets on the evening of June 1st after. demonstrators near the White House were. removed by. force chairman Millie dressed in battle. fatigues joined president Trump and. members of his cabinet in a march across. lafay Square to St John's Church where.

Mr Trump posed for. photographs 10 days later General Millie. apologized in a speech to graduates of. the National Defense University my. presence in that moment and in that. environment created a perception of the. military involved in domestic Politics. as a commissioned uniformed officer it. was a mistake that I have learned from. it's rare for a chairman to apologize. publicly well you know I grew up here in. Boston I'm Irish Catholic and my mother.

and father taught me that when you make. a mistake you admit it you got a. confession you say 10 hell Mar is an Al. father everybody makes mistakes and and. the key is how you deal with a mistake. after you apologized former president. Trump said you choked like a. dog yeah I'm not going to comment on. anything the former president has said. or not said General Millie did tell us. he was so disillusioned with the former. president's actions he nearly resigned. instead according to Former Defense. secretary Mark esper he and the general. made a pact to protect the military from.

becoming politicized or misused it's. also been reported that you spent. several days several drafts of. resignation letters right I was very. struck by the one that was published in. which you said to the president it is my. deeply held belief that you are ruining. the international order causing. significant damage to our country. overseas that was fought so hard by the. greatest Generation in. 1945 that generation has fought against. fascism has fought against Nazism has.

fought against extremism it's now. obvious to me that you don't understand. that World Order you don't think Donald. Trump understood what World War II was. fought over I don't know what uh. president former president Trump uh. understood about World War II or or or. or anything else uh I I can tell you. that from 1914 to. 1945 150 million people or thereabouts. were slaughtered in the conduct of great.

power war and in 1945 the United States. took the initiative and drafted up a set. of rules that govern the world to this. day those rules are under stress. internationally President Putin is a. direct frontal assault on those rules uh. China is trying to revise those rules to. their own benefit but that's one thing. to say that China is threatening that. World Order and Russia is threatening. that world order to say that the. Commander in Chief Donald Trump was. ruining the international order in. causing significant damage what did you.

see that caused you to write that I I. would say that it's got to be more than. walking into Lafayette Square and. uniform there was a wide variety of. initiatives that were ongoing one of. them of course was with drawing troops. out of NATO those were initiatives that. placed at risk um you know I think. America's rolling the world now that is. uh the opposite of uh what my parents. and and uh 18 million others wore the. uniform for World War II to defeat. General Millie doesn't just Revere the.

greatest Generation he was raised by it. his father was a Navy medic who served. in the Pacific Campaign including at the. Battle of iima his mother joined the. naval Reserve to work as a. nurse well this was and Still Remains a. very patriotic neighborhood after the. war they settled in Winchester a small. town north of Boston almost every. single uh male and female parent that. was here they're all World War Two. Veterans of one kind or another the.

whole block really a lot ofbody yeah. 100% and interesting no officers uh. these were all 100% enlisted and they. had their own opinions of officers too. including your parents right oh yeah. yeah during high school he was recruited. to play ice hockey at Princeton. University and decided to join The. Reserve officer training Corps or. Roc after graduating in 1980 he went on. to become a paratrooper and serve in. Special Forces he did one com tour in. Iraq and three in Afghanistan raise your.

right hand this past may he returned to. Princeton to commission the graduating. Roc class congratulations to every one. of you and took a particular interest. all right Cadets in a few of the young. officers whose language skills are. currently in high demand I speak Chinese. sir Chinese is really really important. to us does anybody else speak Chinese. whoa 1 two 3 4 five if you speak Chinese. if you don't mind I'd like to get your.

names uh and we'll see where life takes. you guys we the United States need to. take the challenge the military. challenge of China extraordinarily. seriously how concerned are you that. military to military Communications are. not happening right now with China yeah. I think we need to get that established. uh we had them for a period of time and. they've dropped off so channels of. communication are important in order to. deescalate in time of Crisis general. Millie says he held a total of five. calls with his Chinese military.

counterparts during the Trump and Biden. administrations but it was his last two. calls during the final months of the. Trump presidency that got the attention. of the press Congress and the former. president himself why did you think it. was so important to call your Chinese. military counterpart in the aftermath of. the January 6th attacks that's an. example of deescalation so there was. clear indications uh that the Chinese. were very concerned about what they were. observing here in the United States you.

see some movement of Chinese military. equipment I w't go over anything. classified um so I won't discuss exactly. what we saw or didn't see or what we. heard or didn't hear I will just say. that uh there was clear indications that. the Chinese are very concerned president. Trump recently said that your dealings. with China were so egregious that in. Times Gone by the punishment would have. been. death that's right he said that but for. the record was there anything.

inappropriate or treasonous about the. calls you made to China absolutely not. zero none and not only that they were. authorized and they coordinated uh. Congress knows that we've answered these. questions several different times in. writing were you giving the Chinese. information about thinking of the. president of the United States the. specific conversation was I think in. accordance with the intent of the. Secretary of Defense which was to make. sure the Chinese knew that we were not. going to attack them why did the Chinese. think that the US under then president. Trump was going to attack them the. Chinese were concerned about uh what.

what is commonly referred to in in the. English language like an October. surprise Wag the Dog sort of thing uh. they were wrong they were not reading us. right look at the president Trump was. not going to attack China uh and they. needed to know that China Russia and the. war in Ukraine are now the problem of. his successor Air Force General Charles. Q Brown. Jr there are also areas of concern. closer to home last year the Army missed. recruiting numbers by 15,000 Soldiers.

the worst shortfall in decades. confidence in the US military is at its. lowest in two decades do you bear any. personal responsibility for that. absolutely I think I think as the leader. of the military the uniform military I. think that I am part of that for sure I. think the walk from the White House to. the St John's Church I think that uh. helped create some of that I think the. withdrawal from Afghanistan uh helped. create some of that but I would also say. the United States military is still one. of the most respected institutions in.

the United States by a long shot uh by. huge margin you know I I think we've uh. taken a slip back a little bit and I. think we need to improve on. that General Mark Milly on the future of. warfare does it make war more likely it. could at 60 Minutes overtime.com in the. character of War which is.