On April 21, Lieutenant General Mary Legere spoke at The Institute of World Politics on leadership lessons learned during her 34 years in the Army.
LTG Legere stated that she would soon be retiring from the Army and described the acumen she would take away from her career. LTG Legere shared a little about her upbringing, during which she learned about the need for defense, security, and intelligence. Her Army career started in the mid-80s with the Cold War, and she studied the Soviet threat and Warsaw Pact. LTG Legere spent time in Korea and found it a wonderful place to be an intelligence practitioner.
She elaborated on the her growth as an intelligence officer and as a leader over the course of 30 years in the Army, and what it was like to oversee 58,000 servicemen. She emphasized the importance of accommodating cultures of other intelligence organizations with which the Army works.
LTG Legere also discussed the concept of regionally aligned forces, which are forces that are specifically trained to work in particular regions of the world. She closed with stating the importance of preventing future crises through regionally aligned forces. A life of service and giving back to others will reward you with likeminded people, whose goal is to make the world more balanced.
Mary A. Legere recently retired as a Lieutenant General and as Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence of the United States Army. She was one of 19 female general officers in the United States Army, and was tied for the highest-ranking. For the past four years, LTG Legere was the senior advisor to the Secretary of the Army and Army Chief of Staff for all aspects of Intelligence, Counterintelligence and Security, and responsible for the training, equipping, policy and oversight of the Army Intelligence Corps’ 58,000 Soldiers and civilians. LTG Legere served for more than 30 years in positions of leadership and intelligence and has commanded at all levels to include the Commanding General, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, which is responsible for directing and orchestrating intelligence globally.