{"id":37476,"date":"2020-02-21T17:08:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T17:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/21\/retired-seal-admiral-chosen-to-deliver-mits-commencement-speech\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:49:13","slug":"retired-seal-admiral-chosen-to-deliver-mits-commencement-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2020\/02\/21\/retired-seal-admiral-chosen-to-deliver-mits-commencement-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired SEAL admiral chosen to deliver MIT\u2019s commencement speech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. \u2014 William McRaven, the retired U.S. Navy admiral who directed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, has been chosen to give the 2020 commencement speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the school announced Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McRaven is scheduled to address graduates of the university in Cambridge at a May 29 ceremony. In a written statement, MIT President L. Rafael Reif praised McRaven for his “integrity, intellectual curiosity, decency, humility and self-discipline.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A brilliant problem solver with deeply held values and the courage to speak boldly for his principles, he will fit right in at MIT,” Reif said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McRaven was head of U.S. Special Operations Command in 2011 when a team of Navy SEALs killed the al-Qaida leader in Pakistan. He also led the 2009 rescue of Richard Phillips<\/a>, a ship captain who was captured by Somali pirates and later portrayed by Tom Hanks in a movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\t