Pat Walsh – Nations Have Interests… but People Have Friends – TEDxSMU 2013
Admiral Patrick Walsh, President of Strategic Programs, Academic Partnerships, retired on 1 March 2012, as commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, where he led the US military response to the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake.
During his career, Admiral Walsh flew with the “Blue Angels,” was the operations officer and commander of Strike-Fighter Squadrons, commanded Carrier Air Wing One, and commanded U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and U.S. Fifth Fleet. Prior to his assignment to U.S. Pacific Fleet, he served as the 35th Vice Chief of Naval Operations. He was a special assistant to the director of Office of Management and Budget as a White House Fellow, chaired the Department of Leadership, Ethics & Law at the U.S. Naval Academy, served at the Pentagon as the Deputy Director for Strategy and Policy, and represented the Department of the Navy during the congressionally mandated four-year review of strategy and resources as the Director of the Navy Programming Office.
Admiral Walsh graduated from United States Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree. He also holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy and a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Dallas, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves on the Board of Directors for the Dallas-Fort Worth World Affairs Council, and is a Senior Fellow at the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Science at Southern Methodist University.