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Biography

Mullen graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1968, and his first assignment was as an antisubmarine officer on the destroyer USS Collett, which patrolled the western Pacific during the Vietnam War. Upon his promotion to lieutenant in 1973, Mullen took command of his first ship, the gasoline tanker USS Noxubee, an assignment that concluded with that ship’s decommissioning in 1975. He held a number of posts over the next decade, and he attended Naval Postgraduate School, earning a master’s degree in operations research in 1985. Later that year Mullen took command of the guided-missile destroyer USS Goldsborough. In 1989 he was assigned to the secretary of defense’s office, and he continued his education, graduating from Harvard University’s advanced management program in 1991. Now a captain, Mullen was given command of the guided-missile cruiser USS Yorktown in 1992.

Mullen’s next shore assignment took him to the Bureau of Naval Personnel, where he served as director of surface officer distribution (1994–95). He was promoted to rear admiral in 1997, and his first command as a flag officer saw him at the head of Cruiser Destroyer Group Two. That force was also designated the George Washington Battle Group, after the USS George Washington, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that served as its flagship. In 1998 he was named the director of surface warfare in the office of the chief of naval operations (CNO), and he spent much of his short time over the next decade in that office. He took to the sea again in 2000, assuming joint command of the U.S. Second Fleet and NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic before returning to the CNO’s office as deputy chief of resources, requirements, and assessments the following year. In 2003 Mullen was named vice chief of naval operations, and he received his last operational command in 2004 when he was tapped to head U.S. Naval Forces Europe and NATO’s Joint Force Command in Naples.

Mullen was appointed chief of naval operations in 2005 and in 2007 Pres. George W. Bush nominated him to succeed U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He easily won Senate confirmation, and he immediately began to restore the stature of the position, which had diminished somewhat during the tenure of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (2001–06). Mullen took the unusual step of advocating cuts in military spending, stating that the federal government’s growing budget deficit was the greatest security threat to the United States. He also provided strong public support for the repeal of the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, under which gay and lesbian service members were forced to conceal their sexuality or risk expulsion from the military. In September 2011 Mullen retired and was succeeded by Gen. Martin Dempsey.

Biography sourced from britannica.com