The Secretary of Defense of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Defense Distinguished Service Medal to Vice Admiral Michael Glenn Mullen, United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service contributing to national security and defense, in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States, as Commander, SECOND Fleet; Commander Striking Fleet Atlantic, and Commander Joint Task Force ONE TWO ZERO from October 2000 to August 2001. Admiral Mullen’s aggressive leadership produced dramatic improvement in Atlantic Fleet combat readiness and joint and combined interoperability. He re-invigorated the planning and execution of Joint Task Force Exercised, to include more robust joint services and NATO participation. A staunch advocate of Allied interoperability, he facilitated the seamless integration of dozens of multi-national units into every one of the last three exercises and pioneered several bilateral warfighting and tactical development initiatives. Admiral Mullen also became the driving force behind further maturity of NATO’s sea-based Combined Joint Task Force concept, redefining staff training and procedural requirements to achieve interim configuration next spring. A warrior and innovative thinker, he inspired sweeping changes in waterfront and pier security throughout the East Coast, authored a Navy-wide OPTASK Force Production and spearheaded the establishment of comprehensive Inter-deployment Training Cycle and territorial Force Production Training. Additionally, Admiral Mullen developed tactics, techniques and procedures for Joint Time Sensitive Targeting that became the foundation for the Joint Concept for Operations of this critical warfare function. The distinctive accomplishments of Admiral Mullen reflect great credit upon himself, the United States Navy, and the Department of Defense.