Katie’s One-on-One with Admiral William McRaven
Next Question with Katie Couric
Katie Couric Media
4.4 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2026
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Retired four-star Admiral and former commander of US Special Operations Command William McRaven oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Beyond his military career, McRaven became widely known for his “Make Your Bed” commencement speech which has been viewed more than 150 million times. Now he's out with a new book, Duty, Honor, Country, and Life, a collection of speeches and essays rooted in the West Point motto he's spent a lifetime trying to embody.
Admiral McRaven speaks, at times necessarily diplomatically (as we're at war), at times candidly, about the state of the US military under the Trump administration, the war with Iran, and his growing concern that the president may not fully understand the limits of military power. He reflects on what it means to maintain integrity in an institution under pressure, why he believes the next generation of Americans gives him reason for optimism, and what he wants readers to take away from a book he says is as much for civilians as it is for soldiers.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | No gloss, no filter. |
| 0:03.1 | Just stories. |
| 0:04.8 | Spoken without fear. |
| 0:06.5 | Person who is not generous can not be an artist. |
| 0:09.4 | The world will be at peace only when it is ruled by poets and philosophers. |
| 0:14.3 | Listen to my weekly podcast, the Pooja Abhaw on the IHeart Radio app, |
| 0:18.5 | Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:23.0 | Come for the honesty. |
| 0:24.9 | Stay for the fire. |
| 0:29.8 | Do you believe the president has a fundamental understanding of how military power actually works and how it should be used? |
| 0:43.3 | It's hard for me to look into the mind of the president to be able to make that statement. |
| 0:46.3 | Well, you've seen enough. |
| 0:48.3 | I guess what I'd say is after, you know, this being his second term, he is certainly wielded military power effectively in some areas. |
| 0:58.7 | So if you take a look at Venezuela, an incredible operation on the part of our special operations forces. |
| 1:05.6 | And I'm afraid that gave him a maybe an over sense of confidence that, well, we could just whisk in and, you know, countries would fall as a result of that. |
| 1:16.5 | Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Couric, and this is next question. |
| 1:22.1 | Admiral McRaven, I know you told me to call you Bill. |
| 1:25.2 | Please. |
| 1:25.7 | But honestly, you really deserve to be called to Admiral. |
| 1:29.2 | I'm going to start by reading your official biography because, let's face it, you're such a badass. |
| 1:34.8 | Here we go. |
| 1:36.3 | William McGrathen, former University of Texas System Chancellor and retired U.S. Navy four-star Admiral, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Katie Couric Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Katie Couric Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.