It was a glittering affair from the secret world at Willow last night. The second-to-last Director of Naval Intelligence thought it would be a good idea to honor our iconic Mac with a dinner. The attendees were a select bunch (except for me) and the list was restricted to active and retired flag officers and their spouses.
The venue was Willow, which was at its Saturday-night Date Night elegant best. Tracey O’Grady had worked with Tony’s wife Beth to produce a limited but select menu featuring vegetarian, surf and turf options with salad and appetizer courses. There was dedicated bar service in the larger of the private dining rooms in the back. Liz-S had the front bar, and she was kind enough to walk me back and usher me into the room. There was an attractive rack of cheeses, hard and soft to be served with Kate Jansen’s marvelous cranberry biscotti di Prato and cantuccini.
Her take on the traditional Roman twice-baked delicacy combined the sweet tartness of the fruit with the warm rich creamy taste of the soft cheeses. Pliny the Elder boasted long ago that biscotti “would be edible for centuries,” and were the staple of Rome’s Legions. That may be true, but Kate’s were brand new, crisp and crusty.
They were delightful when combined with the chilled white wine. It was not the usual Happy Hour White I sip at the Amen Corner up front during the week.
The room filled rapidly with familiar faces- this was a crowd accustomed to precision timing and appearance.
(Ann and Mac examine a copy of Joe Rochefort’s War with his wartime picture commemorating his award of the Bronze Star by FADM Chester Nimitz).
I found Mac holding court- signing books and talking with one of our four-star officers (the first Intelligence officer in DoD who made that rank. Our other full admiral was there as well, as were their lovely spouses. I marveled at the crowd- I lost count of the number of former Directors of Naval Intelligence present, stopping at seven, and the officer who serve in positions of great authority since the big reorganization. Directors of the National Security Agency- there were three present- and a couple Directors of DIA chatting one another up.
The former Director of National Intelligence was there and at his folksy best. There was some confidential business being done along the edges of the crowd, and a little casual mentoring from the retired to the newly selected flag officers, but for the most part the dialogue was breezy and intimate with shared experiences, duty stations and crises current and past.
(Rick and Jodie)
It was delightful to see them all, the greats of the trade and those still with the horsepower to scale similar heights. I was fortunate enough to be seated next to the Director of Intelligence for The Joint Staff, who is one of my favorite officers, daughter of a legendary four-star Admiral and grand-daughter of another DNI.
After a delightful social hour, Tony called the crowd to order and the crowd sorted itself out with nary an Executive Assistant or harried young Looper to in sight to make things work effortlessly, but that was the point. This was a gathering of men and women who make history- and those who will make it in the future.
I was fortunate enough to be seated between Mac and the Director of Intelligence for The Joint Staff, and across from a man who had once been nominated to be Secretary of Defense and his lovely wife Nancy.
(Mac’s salmon. He ate half and took most home for his “dog.”)
The asparagus appetizer looked appealing, but I went with the classic Willow Caesar salad, followed by another appetizer and the vegetarian main course. As we dined, three Toms, Mike, Tony, Rick and Sam rose to make brief remarks about Mac and his place in history.
After all, Mac was there at the birth of the national intelligence community, the last officer remaining of the trail-blazing team who cracked the Japanese codes, analyzed the facts, assessed the best course to victory, and convinced leaders like Chester Nimitz to issue bold and decisive orders. Sam pinned the warfare device on Mac’s lapel to a round of congratulatory applause.
(Mac with his warfare pin signifying mastery of the intelligence trade.)
Mac basked in the attention, the first of these commemorations in honor of the 70th anniversary of the battle of Midway.
I had anticipated an early evening- this is a busy crowd, after all, but the wine flowed with dinner and the remarks were engaging, as was the table talk at the six round tables. The service was Willowesque- solicitous but unobtrusive, and at length I was surprised to glance at my watch and see the hands approaching eleven. Sam presented Mac with the gold warfare pin that signifies the mastery of the Intelligence trade, and the group gathered for a group picture. I did not bother to try to count the number of stars the aggregation represented.
(More stars in this shot than I could count.)
I stopped to talk to Liz-S on the way out and had a glass of her white as a nightcap with Tony and Beth.
“Great event,” I said. “You are fantastic to have arranged this. And it is nothing short of amazing that Mac is here to share it, and remind us that seventy years have passed but it is still like yesterday to him. You know they want him to make four speeches in Honolulu next month?”
Tony took a sip of single malt Scotch. “No one else in the world is better to do it,” he said. “He is history, ambassador of the past to the future.”
When our drinks were done, we bade Liz-S a peaceful Mother’s Day, and walked out the front door and into the darkness of a wonderful, soft May evening.
(Mac and Jimmie)
Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com