Thread by @isaacstanbecker

NEW- Stanley McChrystal built a corporate empire in the years after he was dismissed as the top general in Afghanistan, making millions from businesses, governments and universities

I wrote about how washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/…

The eight generals who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan btwn 2008 and 2018 have served on more than 20 corporate boards.

But McChrystal is the runaway leader, serving on at least 10, earning $1.3m from JetBlue and even more from a vehicle co that sold equipment for the war

That company, Navistar International, agreed this spring to pay $50 million to settle claims it defrauded the Marines by inflating the cost of a truck used in Afgh + Iraq.

McChrystal was on the board’s finance cmte at the time of the initial complaint but said he knew nothing

McChrystal has been embraced by some of the world’s biggest companies, which bring him in to run leadership training and serve on their boards.

Here’s how a former Deutsche Bank executive described the reasoning to me

McChrystal is also sought after by universities for high-dollar speaking engagements.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln was facing a budget crunch in 2013 when it agreed to pay the retired general $80k for a keynote address and cover the cost of a private jet, per FOIA’d emails

OK, here’s a timely hook

McChrystal’s boutique consulting firm has secured lucrative contracts with state and local governments for covid consulting, incl Virginia, Missouri, Boston

As cases surged, Virginia’s health dept. spent $1,000 alone on McChrystal’s management manual

I wrote a separate story last month about how management consultants took over the U.S. vaccination drive.

But this really pinpoints our priorities.

The US pumped trillions into wars while defunding public health. Has it made us safer? washingtonpost.com/health/2021/08…

With one exception (a principal with edu/homelessness experience), the McChrystal Group consultants did not have public health expertise. Some were Yale grads who played on the football team

Marty Walsh, Biden’s labor secretary, hired McChrystal Group for covid response when he was Boston mayor. The secretary’s spokeswoman didn’t respond to a Q about whether the services, incl. one-on-one coaching, were useful. Walsh recently dined at McChrystal’s home

Why does any of this matter in the context of the war and its end?

For some veterans, it’s about accountability for a failed mission and the need to re-examine whether tactics applied there should be exported to other arenas

I spoke to McChrystal for more than an hour over Microsoft Teams. Here’s (some of) what he said.