Foundation’s new ethics chair presents at 2025 CGSC Military Ethics Symposium

The U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the CGSC Foundation cohosted the 2025 CGSC Military Ethics Symposium April 1, 2025 at the Frontier Conference Center and the Lewis and Clark Center on Fort Leavenworth. The CGSC Foundation also provided support to the Combined Arms Center Ethicist Training Conference which occurred the following day.

The central theme of this year’s ethics symposium was focused on ethics in large-scale combat operations. The keynote presenter was the CGSC Foundation’s new General Hugh Shelton Distinguished Visiting Chair of Ethics Dr. Paul David Miller, who is also a professor at Georgetown University. The previous chair, Dr. Shannon E. French, served eight years, ending her term in February 2025.

The CGSC Foundation has provided the resources and support required for the General Hugh Shelton Distinguished Visiting Chair of Ethics, annual ethics symposia and other ethics-related programs for CGSC since 2009.

On April 1, the symposium kicked off with a welcome by Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Derek Pottinger from the CGSC Department of Command and Leadership, and CGSC Foundation President/CEO Lora Morgan. Following the welcoming remarks, the first speaker to address the group was U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains Maj. Gen. William Green, Jr. Participants included faculty, the CAC ethicists as well as CGSOC students enrolled in the A740 elective “Military Ethics Symposium Independent Study.”

Next on the symposium agenda were breakout sessions for presentations on papers submitted for the symposium. The six papers presented were selected by Pottinger and other organizers and were written on a variety of topics from chaplains posted across the Combined Arms Center enterprise. The presentations were:

“An Ethical Stand on Coercive Interrogation Methods” by Chaplain (Maj.) Robert Miller, U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, For Huachuca, Arizona.

“Is Your Character Prepared for War” by Chaplain (Maj.) Steven Echols, Chaplain Ethicist and Ethics Instructor, U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

“The Military Police Contribution to Moral Readiness in Just Large-Scale Combat Operations” by Chaplain (Maj.) Michael Demmon, Regimental Chaplain and Ethics Instructor, the U.S. Army Military Police School, Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

“The Ethical Implications of Artificial General Intelligence” by Chaplain (Maj.) Benjamin Reed, Chaplain and Ethics Instructor, U.S. Army Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear School, Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

“Ethical Implications of Military Medicine in Large Scale Combat Operations” by Chaplain (Maj.) Jon Butler, Chaplain Ethicist and Ethics Instructor, U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence, Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

“Unprofessional Conduct: The Dangers of Unprofessional Leadership in Large Scale Combat Operations” by Chaplain (Maj.) Brett Newman, Chaplain Ethicist and Ethics Instructor, U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy, Fort Bliss, Texas.

Each presenter conducted a short Q&A after their formal presentation.

The last presentation of the morning was conducted at the Lewis and Clark Center’s Arnold Conference room. It was a special presentation entitled “History, Korea and Sacrifice” by Dirk Ringgenberg, Ph.D., Department of Military History, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Ringgenberg used the example of the Korean War to generate discussion on ethics in a large-scale combat operation.

After a lunch period, Pottinger introduced the members of a panel discussion entitled “The Ethics of Sacrifice in Large Scale Combat Operations” with Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Chris Hughes, chairman of the CGSC Foundation; Michael T. Loftus, instructor in the Department of Command and Leadership, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; and Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Jared Vineyard, ethicist, Center for Army Leadership and deputy command chaplain, Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

The afternoon period picked back up at the Frontier Conference Center and featured the keynote speaker Dr. Miller who delivered a thought-provoking lecture entitled “Moral Readiness for a Just Large-Scale Combat Operation.” After his presentation Miller and Dr. J. Daryl Charles, a theology and ethics scholar and contributing editor of both the Providence and Touchstone Journals, conducted a discussion panel on “Just Statecraft.”

April 2 was the Combined Arms Center Ethicist Training Conference led by CAC Chaplain (Col.) Sean Wead.

For more photos see the CGSC Foundation Flickr album