Ashley delivered the Carol Ann Walker International Lecture, part of the Elon University Speakers Series, on Nov. 11.
Retired Lt. Gen. Robert P. Ashley, Jr. urged Elon students, faculty, staff and visitors to pair gratitude for military service with clear-eyed engagement in a rapidly changing world during the Carol Ann Walker International Lectureship on Nov. 11, held in McCrary Theatre as part of the university’s Veterans Day observance.
Ashley, a career Army intelligence officer who led the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2017 to 2020, framed his remarks around service and leadership in what, he says, senior security officials now call the most volatile strategic environment of their lifetimes.
“People look at me, and they do a football analogy, and they go, ‘It’s kind of like being on the sidelines,’ but not really because you were on the playing field for 36 years,” said Ashley of his retirement from military service. “It’s more like I’m in the stands, yelling plays to the coach on the sidelines, and I’m not on the field. We try to help where we can.”
The Carol Ann Walker International Lectureship began in 2024 in honor of Walker, who was a loyal and generous supporter of Elon for more than 45 years as the parents and grandparents of several Elon graduates: Wendy Walker ’78 and Lynn Streett ’79, and their grandson, David Streett ’06. Carol Ann passed away in 2002, while Ted passed away in 2021.
“The Walkers served as tireless ambassadors for Elon, with Admiral Walker, personally recruiting dozens of students to Elon University,” said Elon President Connie Ledoux Book in her opening remarks. “The Carol Ann Walker Lectureship stands as a meaningful tribute to his service, the family service, leadership and the values that strengthen our democratic society. We’re profoundly grateful for their vision in creating this important new tradition.”
The lecture was one of several events to honor Veterans Day at Elon, including a flag raising at Scott Plaza and special College Coffee. Tuesday’s lecture began with the singing of the national anthem by Arielle Henley ’27 while Ashley was introduced by Associate Teaching Professor of Communication Design Randy Piland, a U.S. Army veteran.
Speaking on the 107th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I, when Veterans Day is observed, Ashley began by asking veterans and military families in the audience to stand, calling military service “a family profession.” He then situated their experiences within a longer American story, from soldiers leaving the trenches in 1918 to the Continental Army at Trenton in 1776. Each generation that raises their hand, he reminded the audience, “has no idea of the circumstances in which they will serve,” yet commits anyway to defending an enduring constitutional idea.
Ashley described his own path as the son of a Korean War soldier and Vietnam airman and as an officer commissioned in 1984 whose career spanned the Cold War’s denouement and the post-9/11 era. That personal journey, he said, is rooted in an evolving sense of purpose.
At the center of that purpose, or his “why” as Ashley explained, is family, “my bride, my brother, my kids” and now his grandsons, surrounded by widening circles of responsibility that extend to “sailors, airmen, Marines, soldiers, Coast Guardsmen, Guardians, civilians,” and ultimately to the country as a whole.
“My why is the hopes and dreams of over 300 million Americans. Every day for 36 and a half years,” said Ashley. “But it continues in what I do today. My why has not stopped.”
From that foundation, Ashley turned to what he called an increasingly “volatile and uncertain” global landscape. The post-World War II order familiar to many in the room, he argued, “is now being challenged by a number of adversaries.” He cited a warning he first heard seven years ago that “our enemies respect us, but they no longer fear us,” and pressed the audience to consider what that means for deterrence, competition and the risk of miscalculation.
To illustrate how close misjudgments can come to catastrophe, Ashley recounted the 1983 Soviet shootdown of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 and the split-second decision by Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov weeks later to discount a false warning of U.S. nuclear launch. Petrov’s judgment, Ashley said, helped prevent a potential nuclear exchange and underscored the irreplaceable role of human judgment in national security.
“From an intelligence community standpoint, my job is to reduce uncertainty,” he said. “It’s to help policymakers make informed decisions by reducing that uncertainty.”
Ashley contrasted that ethos with growing reliance on technology and artificial intelligence among U.S. competitors. The danger, he cautioned, comes “where’s the human in the room?” particularly in systems involving nuclear weapons and strategic warning.
Yet Ashley’s message to Elon was ultimately as much about character and leadership as it was about geopolitics. Leadership, he told the audience, is “a never-ending journey.” An Army mentor once told him that “who you are as a leader is about an 85% solution” and that the remaining 15% is the work of a lifetime. Ashley echoed that lesson back to the audience, encouraging good teamwork and “mastering the basics”
“For all of you that are in school, you are a work in progress. For those of you that have long since retired, you are a work in progress,” said Ashley. “You’re never done.”