Rear Adm. Margaret Klein, left, speaks with event attendees following her keynote address at the Military Reporters and Editors Conference Friday.
Source: Aimee Keane/MEDILL
WASHINGTON — Rear Adm. Margaret Klein is trying to “up” the military’s game in her new role as senior adviser to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on issues of military professionalism.
Speaking to a smal lgroup of military reporters, editors and service leaders Friday at The Army and Navy Club in Washington, Klein said her office will look at leadership strategies in corporate and public sectors to determine how to increase the ethical standards of the military. Hagel established Klein’s office in March following reports of widespread cheating at Navy and Army nuclear training sites. She was appointed to look at how each of the services address ethics.
“If we can help raise the level of professionalism and improve character development ” Klein said, “then those people who are toxic leaders, they should stand out by contrast much more clearly, much earlier in their career.”
Klein also said she’s looking at the issue of sexual assaults in the military, but from the perspective of increasing ethical standards so the people she calls “toxic” stand out.
In a 2012 issues of the Naval War College Review, Capt. Mark F. Light said his interviews withactive and retired flag officers found that it wasn’t a case of not knowing the rules.
“Either they believe they would not be caught,” Light said, “that Navy leadership would not hold them accountable, or that their misconduct was worth risking their career, or they chose simply to ignore the consequences entirely.”
Klein cited several tactics she thinks could help improve the level of professionalism across the services, adding that she does not intend to rid each of its unique culture. She’s working with corporate leadership institutions, think tanks and scientists to determine best practices that can be adopted for the military.
“Unless we stress ethical standards,” Light said, “our efforts to change behavior will always fall short.”
In her new role, Klein will coordinate with the Joint Staff, combatant commands and each of the military services. According to a news release issued by Hagel’s office , Klein will work directly with the service secretaries and chiefs on the Department of Defense focus on “ethics, character and competence…at every level of command.”
Previously, Klein served as the 82nd Commandant of Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy.
