Academy honors former department head with professorship

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U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  Senior Air Force Academy leaders joined Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley in honoring a former national security adviser and Academy political science professor during a dinner in Washington, D.C., Oct. 27.

The dinner, honoring retired Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, commemorated the establishment of the Brent Scowcroft Professorship for National Security Studies in the Academy's Department of Political Science.

Former President George H.W. Bush congratulated his good friend on the award via a video message.

"What this professorship recognizes, Brent, is not just your service, leadership and countless contributions to your country over the past five decades ... but most of all that you have accomplished this with a special intellect, integrity, grace and modesty," President Bush said. "It is your character that has left all of your colleagues, whatever their views, filled with respect and admiration. This is the mark of a true public servant, no matter when and where they serve in history."

President Bush commended the Academy for creating the professorship.

"By establishing this professorship in your name, the Air Force Academy seeks to instill this standard in a new generation of leaders," the former president said. "We need more Brent Scowcrofts. I congratulate the Academy in this historic step."

Instead of the traditional after-dinner speech, the evening included a 40-minute conversation with General Scowcroft, moderated by the Academy's first Scowcroft Professor of National Security Studies, Dr. Schuyler Foerster. The conversation included reminiscences about the difficulty in shaping U.S. policy as the Cold War drew to an end, discussion of U.S. policy since 1990 and comments about present-day policy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"To be the Scowcroft professor at the Academy is an enormous honor," Dr. Foerster said. "General Scowcroft set an example not only of intellectual excellence in shaping the substance of U.S. policy, but he was critical in reestablishing the integrity of the policy process after a difficult period in our history. It is important that his legacy be an integral part of how we prepare cadets for the challenging careers in front of them."

General Scowcroft said what he thought is most important about the Scowcroft professorship is teaching cadets "not what to think, but how to think." He cited the importance of producing officers who can think strategically, understand complex issues in a changing environment and carefully balance competing issues in helping to shape national policy.

General Scowcroft served as national security adviser to President Gerald Ford and the first President Bush and in numerous other advisory positions in the Department of Defense and the Air Force. His military career also included service as head of the Political Science Department in the early 1960s, during which time he emphasized the importance of intellectual achievement and an appreciation for the broader political and constitutional context in which the profession of arms exists.

The general remains active as principal and founder of the Scowcroft Group, an international business advisory firm in Washington, and as a member of numerous government and private-sector commissions and boards.

Attending the dinner on behalf of the Academy were Superintendent Lt. Gen. Mike Gould, Dean of the Faculty Brig. Gen. Dana Born and Dr. Erv Rokke, president of the USAFA Endowment. After the dinner, General Gould presented General Scowcroft with a cadet sabre on behalf of the Academy's Cadet Wing. Retired Maj. Gen. Randy Jayne, a 1966 Academy graduate and former White House Fellow, helped spearhead the dinner and served as master of ceremonies for the evening.

(Dr. Foerster contributed to this story.)