I am grateful to my friend Thomas Huynh, founder of Sonshi, for the head’s up about Robert Gates‘s appearance on CBS 60 Minutes during which he indicates his high regard for Sun Tzu and his classic work, The Art of War.

You can watch Katie Couric’s entire interview of former US Secretary of Defense Gates (a student of Sun Tzu), especially at 13:00 and 14:00 minutes into the program. Please click here.

In 1999, Thomas Huynh founded Sonshi.com, the Web’s most respected resource on Art of War. It now consists of a network of authors, scholars, and readers around the world, attracted from various disciplines and joined together by a common interest in Sun Tzu’s classic study of strategy. He is a seasoned business executive and nonprofit board member who earned an MBA from Vanderbilt University. He was named in BusinessWeek magazine’s “Top 12 Most Engaged Reader-Contributors of 2008.” Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Huynh now resides with his wife and child in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. As a war refugee, he seeks to put an end to warfare by affirming the practical ideals published in his book, The Art of War — Spirituality for Conflict.

I urge you to check out the wealth of resources at the Sonshi website, including the rare interview of Thomas Cleary. In my opinion, Cleary is the pre-eminent scholar and author of more than 80 books that examine classic Asian sources for concepts of leadership, management, and strategy. To do so, please click here.

With regard to Robert Gates, he was an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by President George W. Bush and was retained for service by President Barack Obama. He remains one of the most astute observers of world affairs in general as well as of the United States’ strengths and weaknesses in its relationships with other nations. To learn more about him, please click here.