Richard Clarke called on students last night to enter government to fight corruption.
Addressing a crowd of 700 to 800 students and community members in the Annenberg Center's Zellerbach Theatre, Clarke, a former counterterrorism czar and 1972 Penn alumnus, spoke about ethical issues currently affecting the U.S. government, especially those pertaining to the Bush administration's actions in Iraq.
Encouraging attendees to go into public service, Clarke said that "the best way to stop stupidity in government is to have smart, ethical people in government."
Clarke was on campus as the main speaker for the University Honor Council's Integrity Week.
Having served as a senior White House counterterrorism official under three successive presidents, Clarke resigned from his post under President Bush in March 2004 after, he said, he realized that "all the opportunities the administration had to avoid the war in Iraq, it was going to ignore."
Clarke's resignation coincided with the release of his No. 1 New York Times best-seller Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror, which criticizes both the Clinton and Bush administrations for their counterterrorism approaches both before and after the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Although it can be daunting to risk career security, Clarke said, government officials who are aware of corruption must expose it.
Clarke's wisecracks about President Bush were well-received by the audience.
"You always hold out hope that the people above you are smarter than you are, and oftentimes they are, but not in this case," Clarke said.
Clarke was chosen to speak for Integrity Week because he "embodied ethics and integrity in his career in government, and he was someone who could discuss issues of ethics that arise in maintaining national security," said Wharton senior Brian Bresnahan, co-chairman of the University Honor Council.
"As a Penn alum, we thought he could specifically identify with members of the Penn community," Wharton senior Peter Ahn, co-chairman of the Honor Council, added.
Clarke's example of integrity resonated with students.
"Richard Clarke went against the current," College sophomore Aaron Werner said. "It takes courage and, that's absolutely something that Penn should highlight during Integrity Week."
