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Retiring DIA Director Michael Flynn Warns Against Nat’l Defense, Security ‘Shortcuts’

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Michael Flynn
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn

The U.S. should continue building its national defense and security posture as it faces threats that are increasing in both number and intensity, Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn urged officials present at his retirement ceremony.

Flynn, the outgoing director of the Defense Intelligence Agency said those in the field should not take shortcuts to uphold the country’s “constitutional principles,” Claudette Roulo reported Thursday for DoD News.

“A strong defense is what will allow our nation continue for many, many more years . . . But that luck will only come through hard work and sheer determination and not through some false sense of hope,” Flynn said.

He also said “good, decent and honest leadership” is needed to direct the forces in their mission to protect the U.S. from ongoing and emerging threats.

In his last media interview as DIA director, Flynn told James Kitfield of Breaking Defense that the current international environement is “the most uncertain, chaotic and confused . . . that I’ve witnessed in my entire career.”

He noted that this is a challenge faced by the intelligence community as technology like social media help change the global landscape.

“As you walk away from my retirement ceremony today, if you consider anything that I say, it is that we had better be prepared for and ready and willing to use every fiber of our being to maintain the kind of life that we enjoy in this country,” Flynn said, according to Roulo’s report.

Navy Adm. Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, led other military and intelligence officials in acknowledgments of Flynn’s contributions to the field over 33 years of service.

Flynn became DIA director in 2012 after service as assistant director of national intelligence and director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joint Special Operations Command and U.S. Central Command.

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