i'd just like to say a word about an important event coming up this april. it's being called "world book night," and it's an ambitious attempt to hand out 1,000,003 books are now with the united states. you can read about how this amazing effort is being

organized and sign up to get involved yourself at us.worldbooknight.org. i mention this this evening because the deadline to sign up is tonight. so there is still time after this event. now a word about our guests this evening. paula broadwell and vernon loeb and their new book, "all in: the education of general david petraeus. general petraeus has become a prominent world war general since world war ii, and while he has already been a subject of several books, paula was given unusual access to him and has brought his story of to date. as paula writes early in the book, one of petraeus' important mentors general jack alvan talked to him about the concept of what galvin called the big

"m" which stood for individual mystique ornithology. the idea, as galvin, explained, is the troops need to be able to make their commanders bigger than they are coming to magnify them. patton had his pistols and grenades, grant, his cigars. petraeus stood out as the epitome of the soldier scholar. intellectually, he is famous for being the lead author of the army's doctrine of counterinsurgency warfare. on the battlefield, he is credited with turning things around in iraq following president bush's decision at the end of 2006 to surge the u.s. forces and faced a similar challenge in afghanistan during the year of command between the middle of 2010 and the middle of 2011. petraeus's time is the focus of paul's book although it has a

broad sweep. paula incorporates biographical the information about petraeus in an effort to examine what has made him so effective and influential of a leader. in fact, the book grew out of paula's pursuit of the ph.d. in public policy which involved the case study of petraeus as an example of transformational leadership and organizational innovation. as a graduate at west point and an army reserve officer, paula knows the army from the inside. and her book takes readers into briefing rooms and command posts on to training sites and battlefields. she was granted a number of opportunities to travel with petraeus and even to job with him which anyone who has tried that knows probably deserves a

medal in medal in itself. petraeus is nefarious for the intensity with which he works out and it's the same intensity that he applies for just about everything that he does. i might add that paula herself is no athletic slacker. she is ranked number one in overall fitness and her class at west point. i would also like to note that paula is donating 20% of the proceeds of the book to team red white and blue, an organization that works with wounded veterans using physical fitness to help them find their new normal. paula was helping the writing of her book by a talented former colleague of mine of the "washington post," vernon loeb. vernon who has lots of experience himself covering the military intelligence world is now the coast metropolitan editor. paula plans to speak for about 20, 30 minutes and then she will

take questions. if you have a question, please remember to step up and use the microphone right here in the center of the room. afterwards, paula will be happy to stay in selling books. please come silence your cell phone and join me in welcoming paula broadwell. [applause] >> before we get started i would like to see how many veterans we have in the room. okay. agreed. first of all, thank you for your service and i know we might have a few that belong to "team red white and blue." are there any evidence from the organization? a couple folks. thank you for coming. it's important for me to get feige of the media platform i have with the book. it became a best seller this week, which is exciting. best seller number six on the nonfiction list and 13 overall. for somebody that doesn't like to light that much, it's very

humbling but i have to give credit to my writing partner for helping us get to this point. but i felt that there was important to do something consequential with the attention that the media is giving to the book and want to call americans to go all and as well as they come back from these theaters p.o. it to them and i think it's our turn. i would like to tell you a little bit about how i came to write the book, and then we will bring up some characters that are actually in the book in the room and we will talk about their adventures and of them i would like to share some stories about general david petraeus and his development. can everybody hear okay in the back? in to fill some six general david petraeus was the commander at fort leavenworth, the school house he was helping to fight the counterinsurgency manual. he was overseeing the writing in fact he edited 30 times the first chapter said he liked to pay attention to detail. but he came to harvard university where i was a graduate student and wanted to speak to students about the

merits of counterinsurgency approach to fighting the iraq war which we were losing at the time coming and he invited a group of veterans of young students, soldier scholars of you will to meet with him after his presentation to the larger student body. i went up to him and said i'm writing my thesis on negotiating and i think it could help your team and you should really read it and he was kind enough to indulge me and take the paper and give me his business card as he does with a lot of soldiers collars. he's very open mind about taking ideas from anyone and everyone and in fact uses what he calls and what is long been known as directed telescoping to reach out to those in different sectors to get their ideas. ausley captain touch with email for a couple of years and i was still a graduate student. two years later i reached back to him and asked if he would speak to a group of students at harvard who were trying to find ways to galvanize greater cooperation among the

intelligence communities, the military and other national security organizations. but we as did a great field officers if you will were frustrated seeing the lack of cooperation said he agreed to a video teleconference from baghdad and the surge started to achieve success in iraq. he opened his presentation with a quote from a roman philosopher luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. and that has been exemplary of his life and the mind set of this book captures the feeling of how i got this opportunity to read the book but i will go into that a little bit in a bit. so, fast-forward again. the surge as we all know was instrumental and our use a little but otherwise the the surge complement of i think the frustration with the insurgency in iraq and basically the tide was turned and we were able to control the forces down. petraeus came back to centcom in

2008, and i was intrigued by how this individual had galvanized the transformation in the army and had shaped this new doctrine the units that were going to the war shaped the training and equipping on the forces and so forth coming and i was looking at this from a management perspective how does an insider affect transformational organizational transformation and i asked him if i could use him as a case study in my doctoral dissertation, and he agreed. so, i began to interview him through e-mail for approximately a year and a half and we had a chance to go for a run and i asked if i could interview him on the run and i brought a tape recorder and this is a test in the preface of the book that basically shows i think why i gained report with him. i could keep up with him on the run and we ended up getting down to a six minute mile. we left to say i didn't

transcribe that interview. it didn't turn out as heavy breathing. so, we consider that e-mail correspondent and i was writing and incorporating his thoughts and i was able to take advantage of my drive a few well the military and my classmates for his aides in his career and several others had been in my company at west point for example and were great informants. they trusted me so i was able to get greater access and i got to know his family and his mentors and they shared correspondence that he had exchanged with them over three or four decades. so i could see the lt. david petraeus, captain petraeus writing to the general jack galvin and talking about in the 1970's or 79 this is how the military needs to balance heavy and light forces flexible.

after he visited in central america he writes that the only way to change the army is to change his doctrine and i will do that someday. in fact the case more competition going between the two come and as brad deluded, the "m," mystique, general galvin was the big "m" and general petraeus was little "m." so you know what they are talking about. the letters that the exchange were very candid and trace the development of his thinking about the organization of the military, about the grand strategy in the u.s. foreign policy. not all of that made it into the book as those that ended up on the cutting room floor but maybe in the dissertation. in any case of thing we took some of the tops and included them in the books and you could see at the various points in his life when he was thinking back at a certain point and then think back to afghanistan to see how it was playing out. so, in the summer of june, 2010,

when general mcchrystal and the rolling stone article rolled out i was sitting on the couch watching television on the faces flashed across who could potentially replace him and i have friends from centcom calling saying to you think that petraeus will call? they never sent him and his teacher out there but as we portrayed in chapter 1 of the book he already knew the name was probably in that even though the media wasn't speculating about it at the time. he had received a call from mcchrystal of the rulings are broken. he would probably lose his job. admiral mullen called petraeus and said your name is not being speculated about publicly, but there's a probability that you will be the one. so, the first chapter he gets into the white house and he's

there for a regularly scheduled meeting with someone from the oval office comes down and says the president wants to see you upstairs. as he is walking into the oval office, secretary gates and other leaders are walking out and they do not get out of context, so he knows that he is about to get a new job and he is excited to serve. when he's in the rose garden that is when i thought i had any opportunity to free my dissertation in the larger framework of how this plays out. i went to work to find a partner and found it truly extraordinary mentor and friend and writing coach and partner and one thing i didn't mention is the 55 marathons'. you think petraeus is good. in any case, the challenge -- i hadn't written anything like this, i hadn't even finished my

dissertation. it's very hard to write something like this. so having someone that is so season did accomplished is helpful for designing the art of the narrative and finding a mate in the biographical and relate them to the story, but i'm sure if you are all familiar. was building an aircraft while getting shot at literally because we didn't know which characters were developed, we didn't know how the world would change and how it would impact operations and so forth, so there was - tempo for us to keep the ground and report them and then meet our deadline so we showed up in afghanistan and said general petraeus and note helping with my dissertation thinking the doctoral student nobody is going to read the dissertation it's not a big deal. he didn't realize it was turning

into a book until my fourth visit or so when i send an e-mail from the pakistan border and showed my odd sense of adventure. general petraeus we just got shot at coming and he wrote back i think he realized then my point is i was sharing hardship with the troops or accepting some risk to get the story to get the scoop said he then said to his staff tried to accommodate her little bit more. so, i spent about almost four months on the ground within three week doses at the time and it's helpful to do that to see how things are changing to get out of the environment, to see how the world was being reported in the united states and then go back and get the story. and i spent time embedded with the trips on the ground and special forces of the afghan national police sites turning them around with different

general officers heading the rule of law efforts or the village of study operations. but most of my time was spent traveling around with general petraeus to fill senior afghans and then just sitting in the meetings with him and in kabul itself to the extent. so, that is what we were reporting over the year and we then sit in these biographical aggressions in every chapter and as brad also mentioned earlier what i really try to show and i pulled from my dissertation they were influencing general petraeus's we of thinking and i had to draw his social networks that his networks and there were four key members. the first was general mulken the first superintendent and his daughter general petraeus. the wonderful holley petraeus

and holly is a wonderful source of information as well. the second mentor is named keith nightingale who is rather unheard of that he was a holder of the ranger regiment, and he helped start the joint special operations committee concept. before that he was involved in the hostage rescue. their letters show how the young general petraeus is thinking about special forces and special rations in that whole community which i think not a lot of people know he has a background in net interest albeit a sort of academic interest. the employment service general jack galvin, and he was assigned with general galvin several times but the correspondence is the richest and for sure the closest today. he not only learned military history and leadership and management, but they both have a passion for a low intensity

conflict. so in the book you will see how his thinking about this in particular by inviting him down to central america to camano which is where the southern command headquarters at the time and there are insurgencies' going on and petraeus flies around and most young officers in here for anyone that has been to a record afghanistan when they know the type of war for young general petraeus after vietnam is the experience for him to the commanders and all salvador and be handed a machine gun as he spoke to his room so yes he writes holly a letter and he's blown away by it and realize is this type of warfare is important to pay attention to. the fourth mentor that we all know here in washington as general jack ki is coming general petraeus first met him

when he was working for general karl, the chief of staff of the army of the time, and keen had been standing at the center that focuses on the low intensity conflict or the side of insurgency warfare for but it was unconventional of the time because we work really looking at large scale actually the gulf war just ended so that kind of warfare was not really welcome and highly upon such a huge personality like jack keane to view this personality. so he would take petraeus' eight to check on how things are going to come and keane would say what was the boss really think? and he was altogether in sight from petraeus and he spoke candidly to him and the instant rapport. jack keane held a visceral sort of rapport, and then everybody knows the story of david petraeus getting shot and of

course jack keane was there with him when that happened but that is what i think solidified their friendship and relationship, and then they worked together for several assignments after that. as of a social network was a big variable. the second thing was the education. obviously i can relate the west point experience myself. they had a different curriculum back then they were able to get access to the records and they looked at what conflicts they were setting and so forth. there was no less intensity conflict. there was an interesting find. but then it also traces his military education and experience at princeton which was his most formative experience and one reason he encourages young people out of their intellectual comfort zone because it broadens his a rise

horizon beyond what the military had been indoctrinating. so, again, his education and the third thing was his experiences. little like a typical military experiences of the infantry officer but his experience and he wishes a nation-building exercise, which is where he his first rule of law development. when he got ideas that he took force of 101st airborne division on some of the will fall initiatives they had. we look at his experience in bosnia where he was greatly exposed to the intelligence community and special operations command. after the mission switched from one of hunting war criminals to hunting terrorists so he was there when 9/11 have been a and a taste of the joint interagency counterterrorism task force and he helped to spearhead this and he would go with the green

berets and the special operations committee so the rangers as those the green beret special forces. this is the first time those communities had the same mission, so this was important for his development as the future commander in iraq and to understand how to use those teams if you will. but he was out there in a baseball cap and after they would go and knock on the door he was a negotiator and would go and deliver letters to turn themselves in. his history interview which i conducted with michael from the brookings institute this is kind of a transformational period not only working with intelligence and special water rations committee and special missions units and also working on a multi-year road map, so basically a comprehensive plan with interagency come international joint command

everything. all of these players it was his first time to run in that circle and have a sort of operational command if you will. as we look at these experiences and then we try to show how some of it plays out in iraq. there's not a heavy emphasis in iraq and the experiences were pretty well covered with him in the great, great book. but the story is how these educations have played out and plays out in afghanistan. the war in afghanistan, i don't think the book paints a rosier picture for how the war is coming and one thing he said on his way out of kabul when we flout the days he regretted having staying true fighting

season, yet he recognized the great opportunity had gone to the agency and they needed to get the agency because i don't know if you remember the fonts' around the time period the president wanted him to be in place. but he looks back and talks about his regret. he started talking about the night raids and counterterrorism because frankly speaking the was the only area of was showing progress when he first got there. they were not in place yet so there wasn't quite the momentum and clearing operations we can see now and in some areas they are down by 30% and helmand for example. they are up by 19% to be the night raids and so forth where the war was heading and where we are not today is an extension of

that. he also wishes he could have focused earlier on preventing civilian casualties. the report came out today that talks about this is the fifth year in a row where the civilian casualties in afghanistan have risen and while they are decreasing, insurgency civilian casualties are on the rise so how does that translate into how the campaign is working? d want to say a few remarks? what we would like to do was open about and then vernon has a few remarks to say. >> do we have any questions? i guess we should use a microphone.

>> please, go ahead. >> he wanted to be the joint chiefs of staff but was told in no way he was going to become joint chairmen. could you tell us why he couldn't be the joint chief of staff chairman? >> he wasn't considered for the position as we rode in the book, and in part it was because the rumor has it or the resources i have which are second hand that washington is only big enough for one superstar and david petraeus isn't it, so the thought is that he wouldn't be valuable as chairman and the tough budget cuts in the department of defense and the restructuring and equipping and

thinking about how we are going to fight the next war on the horizon the fault was that having him in that position would serve, he would stymie the white house objectives. so, on the other hand, as you know, she was interested in this cia position and i think it is the best possible position for him. he's been a voracious consumer of intelligence and has worked with 16 different agencies in the intelligence community for quite awhile as the consumers of intelligence. he understands and maybe it is a blessing in disguise to good for him to handle.

>> michael hastings actually torpedo mcchrystal. the pentagon makes old america look like greenwich village. but mcchrystal wasn't insubordination that was in discretion, and fraternization. somebody in the military isn't supposed to be with an inferior and he was the soldiers soldier. you have done so very scantily is the problem of corruption and governments at all levels in the middle east. proper security and that involves the killers, the fanatic killers, the religious colors and how you deal with that. all it takes is one sure to

create havoc and at least in afghanistan or drugs and how to deal effectively with that. all of those play a role and unfortunately in the military the report determines who gets promoted and that has sometimes less to do with ability. >> to the makings of david petraeus. >> those are all good questions and thoughts and talk about the role of law and this is an issue that brigadier general mark martin's was helping to galvanize in afghanistan and we kind of traced his efforts to show how difficult it is and frankly every once is a would take a generation to change the culture.

you look at the competition of the taliban and sharia law and they are settling disputes whether it is by cutting someone's hand of for stealing something but the justice is served and the government in the campaign can't do it we have to start somewhere. so mark martin stood up the rule of law fuel source and they went up to each of the basically down to the district level to set the training teams would teach the district level of ken officials how to do speedy justice or some kind of justice. the system is totally archaic. they don't have a computer system to share files on at a local level. it's getting better but there is a long way to go. one positive step the of meat is biometrics. i think about two years ago we started scanning in the afghan

insurgents or any surgeon for that matter so we can track them if they are coming into the system again but it's one of the most complex challenges that we will face anywhere we try to do nation-building >> it is and habeas corpus, but habeas corpus. unfortunately all that takes is one jerk or a few to create havoc in any community. >> thanks for your question. >> congratulations on a book. can't wait to read it greg martin's and got a lot of credit at one time for some ways of building the country and in building it up with for three cups of tea author, and i heard that he was widely read by the officers. and then he has kind of come under the cloud of something

about fund-raising and stuff, but nevertheless there is a huge upsurge in education, elementary schools and all that over in afghanistan, so does he get a lot of credit for that? is important for young officers of several models to see if the counterinsurgency especially the long kinetic activities can have i don't know that he is necessarily galvanized that change what we learned from iraq those kind of engagements in the civil society can help. but the question is how much does it help and does it matter for our national security? if these kids can go to school or women have greater rights i women's rights activist, but does that matter for u.s.

national security? that is what you have to ask the end of the day. >> i'm interested in the art form of collaborative author ship. i wonder if you and your kuhl author could say a little bit about how to gather you plan to exercise this book. >> it is an art form. also why did the trial lawyer and all the hard work. apollo would go to afghanistan and reporting often about a month behind a real time and she would unleash this fire hose of information on me and i would start basically to sort of locked out the chapters and it turned out to be his year in command and it turned out also to be his last command so we had a sort of blessing of a national front story which we've

digressive so following that i would basically rough out the chapters and then it became an art, sort of a master of -- matter of passing back and forth. she would refine it come at inclination that i didn't have or haven't seen and what sort of go back and forth until the final draft emerged and then became even more when pain when got involved and was produced quite fast. as published on january 24th in the last event on the book is being sworn in by biden, september 6 so that is six months that is about as fast as you can produce a book. so it was fun. you have to have a good relationship and a good partner

and trust between the partners, and i think it's -- i am an editor now. i used to be a reporter and it is a combination of writing and editing. >> did you both deal with the editor as a publisher? >> one of my favorite parts of the book is petraeus is a dominant character and we have great access to him and a lot of it is told from his point of view but we have established a group of secondary characters. three of the more lieutenant commanders, so we tell the story of their work. one fought around kandahar, one was fighting in the mountains of eastern afghanistan and one was sort of in the kind of rolling hills of the province. and they all intersected with petraeus at some point and then they saw the second of characters sitting right here who was --

>> we give one of the lieutenants who was the general's aide burst in -- first in bosnia. then he was the aide during the invasion of iraq and 2003. so here he was in afghanistan commanding a battalion and was the first time he has a special relationship with the hundred first because he commanded them during the invasion of iraq and in 03 it was his first combat command. so during his last command it just so happened the 101st was in afghanistan deployed together for the first time since 2003. and again, david was one of the three combat leaders we write about and it's clear that he's here and dug was the senior civilian officer to the commander of the 101st in eastern afghanistan and also has

a kind of special relationship to petraeus and the surge in iraq in 2007 when he was with the first calvary division. i think if you read the book i think that you'll enjoy that interplay between the dominant character and secondary characters who are coming you know very different and very interesting and very, very tough with a brutal war. writing about them from my vantage point from afar is interesting and inspiring to me to see the kind of lives and the way they carry to this day from the people they lost.

>> two questions if i could not having read the book yet i'm wondering whether you cover the political attack on the general as exemplified by the general petraeus comment and the other is can you speak about your experience at west point? >> we do touch on general petraeus for those that haven't read the book and no theater history move on dhaka word took on an ad of the day general petraeus was testifying as a timber of 2007 and there were questions about the veracity of the statistics he was using to report progress whether it was petraeus or vitre us as it was misled in the press.

another thing we try to show in the war is the human side of him, the burden of command and master of command and how important it is for someone at that level to always keep the mask on to give the troops hope. at the end of the day he was human and it's tough for the troops to be questioned. there are a lot of rhetoric in the room and in hindsight is wonderful. i kept a journal before i was there, and i had a chance to look through those about three months ago and i didn't have that great experience. i would add especially as a woman it's hard for everyone. but now i was so proud to be a part of the line and was the most formative thing that has

ever happened to me and the most important thing was to embrace the concept of duty on the country, and i think we show how the new generation of young leaders are doing that as well. i can tell you stories about west point. i will stop there. >> thanking for taking time to be i have to and have part question but i will be quick. the first is regarding the other force of nature ambassador richard holbrooke we lost in the relationship with general petraeus and him. that term has been used in different way but i tend to hear general petraeus more. the second question is how they find original petraeus and the last half question is among his many great strengths what are some of his actual weakness is? thanking. >> thanking. good questions. >> they ran president obama's one of his afghan reviews and he was working closely with holbrooke and petraeus and

clinton and to simply answer your question he would say that petraeus was an devotee the team he was the fact a leader of the team it was important to have holbrooke. think of the knowledge and experience he had and the network that he had come so even holbrooke acknowledged that. the second question was the afghans. so, you know, the interesting thing to juxtapose is david petraeus's experience in iraq where they called him a weak king david coming and he gave himself that name. i don't know. he's very well respected in iraq. the name streets after him. i can't tell you the e-mails are received from iraqi scud would give their children, their riches to thank him for what he did to the country. that's a genuine to the afghans, not so much.

it was a level position in the country with a much more complex terrain insurgency or counterinsurgency i don't know if you can see much more complex than a very complex area she had visited but he certainly didn't have the depth of knowledge, the networks, the knowledge known, the enemy of the architect rothkopf that he would have to work with of the new forces if you will. so i think that he felt he had to prove himself, and this is just the judgment a lot of people felt like he talked about iraq all the time and they are thinking these people with many years of tough and experienced are thinking this is not iraq. but in his mind at the end of the day there are still many principles we could take. no it isn't transferable. you can't take what we did there and do it here. but i think that he never really gandy her pour batt mcchrystal had for example with karzai and

the afghan ministers respected him that it certainly wasn't the same level of respect that he had with the iraqi government. he is such a driven individual. i think that can be a strength. he channels that drive and ambition to serve the country. i think that his ego is a mind of that, but it's not egotistical. he put duty on the country and the service to the nation about his family. so i almost consider that a strength and weakness as a working mother and wife my working wife works hard, too it's hard to find a balance and holly is pretty clear that she supported them and they have a wonderful familiarity and established children. other weaknesses -- >> no, there are.

i don't like to tease him that he doesn't really -- i call him mono directional or multifaceted and that is a joke he's extremely well read and is a book a week and now he's and to spy novels. but he doesn't like to do anything besides run and read and work and go to the north. i don't know if that is a weakness but he could have more balance and learn to relax. at the end of the day it comes down to the voice and his head saying results. his father was very tough on him and we don't get into it that much in the book but his father had really high standards and david petraeus could never please him so he was driven to always do better and deliver results whether it was when a newspaper delivery contest in school or playing on a soccer team he was always striven to

please his father and probably all of us can relate to that in some sense. >> i understand you are having proceeds to the organization that supports warriors. can you tell us about the organization and how you chose to support them? >> i would love to. the team is called red white and blue, and was founded by mike irwin, a major now that teachers in the behavior science leadership department at west point, and he's an intelligence officer but he served as a special operations community and had several tours in afghanistan. he started this group to try to help the wounded warriors find their new normal and showing fitness helps to really depression and suicidal tendencies and so forth and so on the of the idea was to give the wounded warrior is something to belong to that they lost when they lost the core of the military. anyone in here that has ever

served you know a family the military becomes lost trends jointly committed to move that and come back to the u.s. and not be able to discuss it with family because they can't relate or you feel shameful hour when did for years that have been visible wounds in post-traumatic stress disorder i feel we are not recognizing that we have an epidemic right now in our veteran community. veterans from iraq and afghanistan have debilitating levels of post-traumatic stress disorder and this number is just the number that has come forward. you can imagine there's tens of thousands more that are just afraid to admit it because you get a stigma you have traumatic brain injury and other invisible wones if you will. so in fact we are making a video tomorrow that can call americans to go in for a trip but that doesn't mean just donating

money. for you find ways to get out in these wounded warriors and if you can't run a race with them maybe you can help online at raising awareness, posting on facebook, whenever but in whatever way you can at least welcome the wounded were years back and try to reach out to them and give them thanks for >> i would like to go b. the afghanistan after having served their i've wondered about the application of the surge i did to afghanistan. a major part is buying of local leaders. we have been biting off the boards in afghanistan and the taliban have access to unlimited resources from the drug trade. thus petraeus feel that the

surge could be from iraq and put down in afghanistan and be successful? >> in either country for that matter. with the surge is meant to give in both countries is to create the time and space and the forces can stand up and defend themselves. you have to do -- i'm not going to get a powerpoint out unless you really want it, but it's not just the security solution, there's obviously rule of law that we were talking about, there's international relations. you have to get a lot of partners, coalition members to agree and the withdrawal plans to meet you have to find out who has the capability to deal with the drug operations and should we just get money from the polls. you can imagine the complex discussions that go on.

i don't think that he thinks that there is any solution in that country, and especially if we have a precipitous withdrawal but what we have given the iraqi snowe is a chance -- he gave maliki a picture of george washington about two months ago he was in iraq visiting the symbolism. this is your chance. we've created this time and space. it's your chance to either start a new beginning. so nobody knows how either of these are going to end and i don't think he was naive to think that it would be enough. >> have any questions to me that? >> we have five more minutes we have one and three-quarters. >> how much of president,'s

interest in having him go somewhere is political to get them out of the way? the other part is part of concern that you mentioned petraeus was a great consumer of intelligence just a newspaper reader there's a militarization of the cia going on. that is the core underneath the question and it's in part because of his special operations background and its use of those devices to move this process within the cia further than it has been in the past which is i think of some concern. >> he doesn't talk much about the direction of the agency going.

since he has come into the agency in a number of months, five months he's been there strewing because throwing strikes with his predecessor. but, they have been more effective, too. now we are seeing al qaeda so some of the strike numbers have gone down. i don't know how to read into that. does that mean increasing the para militarization of the agency? i don't think that president obama -- let me step back. petraeus suggested the position as we write in the book, ann gates increased in november, december, didn't talk to obama going january. the first time obama and petraeus speak about the potential loss for the position in march, and the president had

been just lead over. i never got the sense from him, from the president come from petraeus or anyone on the national security council that the fault was let's put him there to militarize the agency. but, you know, petraeus is thinking look at how we are drawing down, how the defense department is shying away from this large scale type of operation and as secretary gates said the next leader that decides to commit to one of these operations should have their head examined. that is in all of our heads right now we want to avoid a large scale operations of his thinking, even as he goes to the agency that is the kind of future of warfare. so, i would be speculating if i guessed that the president had an intention of really turning the agency into an oss again that they are keeping up their drone attacks and they have shown some effectiveness.

obviously in the precision strikes the of lower collateral damage, and that's important. we don't want to create more enemies like little damage. i guess we will have to wait and see. the challenge is the transparency and we don't have a lot of information on what they are achieving. >> my question is about personal relationships specifically with eikenberry, karzai and general petraeus. you mentioned there was a lack of conducive working relationship between cars at and eikenberry so he made the executive decision to do one-on-one meetings about karzai and you also mentioned he stressed the importance of civilian military partnership. i'm just wondering about your reflection how that can and to play. was that the right call the overall picture of that?

>> one of the things he learned in his education in iraq is just how critical it is to have unity of effort with the civilian side because you can't tell your way of an insurgency. it means to be a comprehensive military plan that i believe the whole of government effort. the surge of security forces arrived but we never did see the surge of civilian force is slash was pretty frustrating to him, but he found innovative ways to worker down that. one way i'd like to frame the book is that it is a study and strategic leadership how to get it done when you have the troup caps. if you want the local afghan police initiative that you only have so many special forces officers how can you be innovative and augmented so he brought in conventional forces that's really a typical but there are need examples of strategic leadership action and in his dealings with karzai he

realized any time he brought eikenberry he would stop bringing him but he maintained a good relationship. they were not best friends not from my perspective, there were both cordial and spoke politely but when you speak to the staff you understand there is tension. i didn't really write about this in the book except to say that when petraeus asked the rose garden at first day he was writing notes in his notebook on his to do list and one of the first people he wanted to call was ryan crocker, his former partner in iraq, and he was interested in joining him. so they made a lot of calls to the white house and around washington to try to get him there to have a dynamic duo that worked so well together, and obviously he didn't get there until years later but you wonder

what it have made a difference? one more question. okay. >> because we are at politics and prose i have to ask about the future possibility. do you think there is a role in politics, general petraeus time goes on? >> did you watch the daily show? [laughter] i will borrow my line there that he asked the same question. my husband says he's going to run for office but i can't tell a lie so he's not interested in running for office. politics corrupted. absolutely.

the amigos spent a lot of time. he takes it personally and doesn't want to be a. he would run for office and yield on the principles to yield the officers. they are individuals and some of the montrose he subscribes to be true a lot of people can relate to that and the ideal of serving something greater than yourself, so he doesn't want to it would be great but i don't think it is going to have been. the job for four years from eight years as long as the administration must keep him. it's funny because he's recognizing the quality of people there after dealing with

-- now he's got this intellectualism and at heart is a professor. one thing he thought about doing after he retires is becoming the president of princeton. thanks everyone for coming. this is very exciting. it's an honor. thank you. [applause] to be the bookstore in washington. i hope he will support braudy and keep the bookstore thriving. and also, again, a shot out to those that have served and do serve for the wounded were years. thanks again for coming to the [applause]

>> ulysses was originally published in march from 1819 and december, 1920 and american periodical called the little review coming and we have copies of all of those as well. ..