Michael Patrick Mulroy is the former United States
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
Assistant Secretary of Defense is a title used for many high-level executive positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense within the U.S. Department of Defense. The Assistant Secretary of Defense title is junior to Under Secretary of Defen ...
(DASD) for the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
, serving under Secretary
James N. Mattis
James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 26th US secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. During his 44 years in the Marine Corps, he commanded forces in the Persian ...
and Secretary
Mark T. Esper. He was responsible for representing the
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...
(DoD) for defense policy and for Middle East policy in the interagency.
He is also a retired
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
Paramilitary Operations Officer and a
United States Marine
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
.
After leaving the Pentagon, he co-founded the Lobo Institute along with
U.S. Navy SEAL Eric Oehlerich. He also began serving on the board of the nonprofit
Grassroots Reconciliation Group, became a Special Advisor to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
,
the Co-director of the Yemen Steering Initiative, a Senior Fellow for national security and defense policy with the
Middle East Institute
The Middle East Institute (MEI) is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank and cultural center in Washington, D.C., founded in 1946. It seeks to "increase knowledge of the Middle East among the United States citizens and promote a better understa ...
, and an
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
National Security Analyst,
and the co-president of End Child Soldiering.
Mulroy’s post-service efforts focus on educating people on global conflicts, combatting extremism, and the philosophy of stoicism.
Career
Military service
Mulroy is a retired
U.S. Marine
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...
and served as a commissioned officer and an enlisted Marine on active duty and in the reserves. He served as an
Armored
Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or f ...
Crewman (
United States military occupation code
A United States military occupation code, or a military occupational specialty code (MOS code), is a nine-character code used in the United States Army and United States Marine Corps to identify a specific job. In the United States Air Force, a sy ...
(MOS) 1811) of a
M1 Abrams tank, a
Judge Advocate
Judge-advocates are military lawyers serving in different capacities in the military justice systems of different jurisdictions.
Australia
The Australian Army Legal Corps (AALC) consists of Regular and Reserve commissioned officers that prov ...
(MOS 4412) and an
Infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...
Officer (MOS 0302).
His military awards include the
Joint Service Commendation Medal
The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...
, the
Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal
The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...
, the
Afghanistan Campaign Medal
The Afghanistan Campaign Medal (ACM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was created by Executive Order 13363 of President George W. Bush on November 29, 2004, and became available for general distribution in June 2005. Th ...
, the
Iraq Campaign Medal
The Iraq Campaign Medal (ICM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was created by Executive Order 13363 of U.S. President George W. Bush on 29 November 2004, and became available for general distribution in June 2005 ...
, the
Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
The Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal (GWOT-EM) is a United States Armed Forces award created by George W. Bush on 12 March 2003, through Executive Order 13289. The medal recognizes those military service members who have deployed ove ...
, among others.
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.
CIA service
Mulroy is a retired Paramilitary Operations Office (PMOO) from the Special Activities Center (formerly named
Special Activities Division
The Special Activities Center (SAC) is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert and paramilitary operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to 2015. Within SAC there are two ...
) 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. They are recruited primarily from the
United States Special Operations Command
The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Ar ...
.
Mulroy joined the CIA in 2015. While at the CIA, Mulroy spent most of career in conflict areas.
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.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) service
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. Mulroy was responsible for DoD policy and for representing the DoD in the interagency for the countries of
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
,
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
,
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
,
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
,
Palestine,
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
,
Syria,
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
and
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
.
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.
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
Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...
(CT),
unconventional warfare
Unconventional warfare (UW) is broadly defined as "military and quasi-military operations other than conventional warfare" and may use covert forces, subversion, or guerrilla warfare. This is typically done to avoid escalation into conventional ...
(UW),
foreign internal defense
Foreign internal defense (FID) is a term used by the military in several countries, including the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, to describe an integrated, and possibly multi-country, approach to combating actual or threatened i ...
(FID),
sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
and
subversion,
stabilization (warfare), and
information operations
Information Operations is a category of direct and indirect support operations for the United States Military. By definition in Joint Publication 3-13, "IO are described as the integrated employment of electronic warfare (EW), computer network ...
(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.
In late 2020, during the delay in the transition between the
Trump Administration
Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory ...
to the
Biden Administration
Joe Biden's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who previously served as vice president under Barack Obama, took office following his victory ...
, the incoming team for the DoD reached out to several former members of then-Secretary
James Mattis
James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 26th US secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. During his 44 years in the Marine Corps, he commanded forces in the Persian ...
for assistance. Mulroy was one of the former officials and one of the few that agreed to assist.
Advocacy for child soldiers
''My Star in the Sky''
Mulroy is a co-maker along with
U.S. Navy SEAL Eric Oehlerich, of the documentary film, ''My Star in the Sky'', which in the
Acholi dialect of
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
and
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...
is “Lakalatwe.” The film portrays the relationship between two former child soldiers in the
Lord's Resistance Army
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), also known as the Lord's Resistance Movement, is a rebel group and heterodox Christian group which operates in northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the ...
led by
Joseph Kony
Joseph Rao Kony (likely born 1961) is a Ugandan militant who founded the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Christian fundamentalist organization, designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations Peacekeepers, the European Union and variou ...
, who rebelled against the government of Uganda for decades. Mulroy's goal in making the film was to draw attention to the ongoing abuse of child soldiers in many countries. Foreign Policy reports that the documentary came about after Mulroy and Oehlerich met a family of former child soldiers during
Operation Observant Compass
Operation Observant Compass was a United States Department of Defense operation initially focused on apprehending Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army in Central Africa. It was overseen by United States Africa Command.
NBC News wrote in March ...
(OOC).
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.
This documentary has been screened at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
's
Jackson Institute for Global Affairs
The Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs (formerly the Yale University Jackson Institute for Global Affairs) is a professional school of Yale University that specializes in global affairs.
Based in New Haven, Connecticut, the school's mission ...
, the
Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C. based
think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
for international affairs, the
Enough Project
The Enough Project is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization that was founded in 2007. Its stated mission is to end genocide and crimes against humanity. The Enough Project conducts research in several conflict areas in Africa inclu ...
, a non-profit group to end crimes against humanity,
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy,
and the
Truman National Security Project
The Truman National Security Project is a United States Democratic Party-aligned national security and leadership development organization based in Washington, D.C. It serves to organize center-left to progressive Americans on issues of national ...
.
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
IAparamilitary officer with the idea that they were going to fight a child.”
Grassroots Reconciliation Group
Mulroy is on the Board of Directors for the Grassroots Reconciliation Group (GRG). GRG was initiated as part of a
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 b ...
(USAID)-funded program called the Northern Uganda Peace Initiative (NUPI) to reconcile and rehabilitate former child soldiers of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army.
Philosophy
Mulroy is a proponent of
Stoic philosophy
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asserting that t ...
. In an essay in
modern Stoicism
Contemporary Stoicism refers to currents in culture from the 20th century and later reviving elements of Stoicism. It is different from neostoicism, an earlier revival in the late 16th century. The term "contemporary Stoicism" covers both the r ...
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
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
,
James Stockdale
James Bond "Jim" Stockdale (December 23, 1923 – July 5, 2005) was a United States Navy vice admiral and aviator, awarded the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War, during which he was a prisoner of war for over seven years.
Stockdale was the mos ...
,
John Lewis
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
, among others. He did this after citing the precipitous decline in the confidence Americans have in one another.
In an article for
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
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. 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
The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized militia force and a federal military reserve force of the United States Army. They are simultaneously part of two different organizations: the Army Na ...
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.
References
External links
*
Lobo Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulroy, Michael Patrick
United States Department of Defense officials
Living people
People of the Central Intelligence Agency
Trump administration personnel
Counterinsurgency theorists
Counterterrorism theorists
Guerrilla warfare theorists
United States Marine Corps officers
Augusta University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Recipients of the Intelligence Star
American documentary film directors
American people of Irish descent
Documentary war filmmakers