If you were to ask Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg (ret.) about the Iraq War, you likely would get two very different responses.
But that hasn’t dampened the general’s support for the GOP presidential candidate, whom he counsels on matters of national defense and national security. During a discussion Tuesday about Trump’s national security speech on CNN, Kellogg fully defended his boss.
“The speech yesterday was a much, much broader look at the security situation we have going forward,” he said. “I happen to think my guy has got the temperament to be the commander-in-chief, and I happen to think my guy has got it right.
“If you want to continue the process of the past years, then you’ve got an option. Take that option. But I happen to think my guy is a black swan candidate. He’s a change candidate. He’s not a politician—he’s been a businessman—and he gives us a change opportunity. I think we need to go there.
“I don’t think we should focus in on one small piece of his speech. It was a very comprehensive speech. It’s going to be developed as we go forward. We need to look at it that way.”
Kellogg was the former chief of staff of the 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Desert Storm, and later was director of command, control, communications and computers for U.S. forces under the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He also served as the chief operations officer of the Coalition Provisional Authority that ruled over Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein after the second Gulf War.
Since his retirement, he has lent his technical and military expertise to a number of defense contractors.
