Army Gen. Richard Clarke has a lot to teach corporate America, though I am certain most of corporate America probably won’t listen. General Clarke is in charge of the secretive U.S. Army Special Operations (Special Ops) Command. We normally don’t have a peek inside the “machinery” of this elite military unit. Then again, we don’t have sneak peeks into the inner world of Hollywood, 
collegiate sports, automotive manufacturing or banking either. Now however we face a Special Forces ethics review.
Special Forces Ethics Review
General Clarke has specifically ordered in-depth scrutiny of the way in which all his Special Ops people are recruited, taught and trained. He specifically wants to address ethical failures and how they developed within his organization. Clarke said, “recent incidents have called our culture and ethics into question and threaten the trust placed in us.” There is nothing more valuable than a Special Forces ethics review to refocus on the ethical culture of our elite.
I will get into the failures shortly, however, as an observer, he has given us much of a clue of what he wants to do with an elite military unit than has Miramax, Michigan State, Wells Fargo or Volkswagen within their organizations.
The Special Operations Command will immediately begin its special forces ethics review and the general has ordered it to be completed by November. He is conducting his review by dividing the probe into two teams. The first team is comprised of military officers who will form what he calls an advisory panel. The second team is made up of all of the commands, Special Ops forces including Army Rangers, Green Berets, Army Delta units, U.S. Navy SEAL teams and special warfare units, and Marine and Air Force special operators.
Special Forces Ethics Review Why?
What prompted the sweeping ethics review? At this time there are at least three actions which set this in motion: a Navy SEAL team ordered back to the States after reports of sexual abuse and drunken parties; a Navy SEAL found guilty of photographing an ISIS teenager he had killed and two Navy SEALS and Marine Raiders guilty of hazing a Green Beret to death.
The general is angered at the breakdown in discipline and ethical behavior. It does not take much knowledge of military protocol to understand why an ethical discipline problem would be totally unacceptable within secretive operations. Without such discipline, chaos could ensue. Within the elite Special Ops area, the results of poor ethics could be catastrophic, especially as the operations often take place on the world stage.
However, why do we believe a man such as Richard Clarke should expect good ethics on the part of the soldiers under his command, and not account executives at Wells Fargo forcing fake accounts on unsuspecting customers or the medical staff at MSU permitted to sexually abuse young gymnasts over the course of decades?
The Double Standards
Trust. Trust is powerful yet at times a highly interpretive word. Whole segments of our society have lost trust in the military. It is politicized and creates fear. The military certainly has let us down in the trust department in past actions even though we understand that Special Ops are directed by higher authorities. We also know that Special Ops are secretive and they operate within their own sets of rules. Their rules frighten many of us and even generals grow concerned when elite units, trained to kill, are allowed to run ethically amok.
However, we are far less fearful when ethical interpretations are applied to Big Pharma, automotive manufacturers, Big Tobacco or insurance companies. But why should that be?
How many lives have opioids taken? In 2017 alone, 47,000 died from opioid addiction. At least 130 Americans die each day of opioids. Our automotive companies have been found guilty in the past of intentionally building bad cars and most recently, Volkswagen has faked emission results. Big Tobacco, killed millions then they were curtailed. Now, they have come back with vape products that are addicting tens of thousands of teenagers. The insurance industry is complicit in intentionally not covering patients who could be saved while reaping huge profits from the “same patients.”
Where then, are the industry-wide ethical reviews? Until companies are forced to comply with ethical standards, lives will be lost. We need far more General Clarke’s in government and private industry. Only we can demand it happens.
