At a time when US President Donald Trump has run through four national security advisers in four years, and seems unable to distinguish national interest from his personal interest, Brent Scowcroft's legacy is more relevant than ever. He remains the model for a modern public servant.
CAMBRIDGE – Brent Scowcroft, who died on August 6, aged 95, was the model of a modern lieutenant-general. A graduate of West Point whose career as a fighter pilot was cut short by a broken back suffered in a P-51 Mustang crash in 1949, Scowcroft went on to serve three presidents and advise others. He was the national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, and, to this day, when scholars and practitioners discuss the best way to organize the National Security Council, they invariably refer to the “Scowcroft model.”
CAMBRIDGE – Brent Scowcroft, who died on August 6, aged 95, was the model of a modern lieutenant-general. A graduate of West Point whose career as a fighter pilot was cut short by a broken back suffered in a P-51 Mustang crash in 1949, Scowcroft went on to serve three presidents and advise others. He was the national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, and, to this day, when scholars and practitioners discuss the best way to organize the National Security Council, they invariably refer to the “Scowcroft model.”