Saying Goodbye to One of the Best Men in Washington

The word went out on Wednesday through emails, direct messages, phone calls, Facebook, Twitter. There was no hesitation as people across an entire continent dropped what they were doing. They scheduled a day or two off. They booked last-minute flights on their own dime. These people, dozens of them, cleared their schedules and their lives. Then, on Friday, the clan began to assemble.

The people who gathered at this think tank a few blocks from the White House were not celebrities or even those who most Americans would know by name. They are, however, the cream of the defense intellectual community. It is a community often scattered around the planet, but they gathered now in a way few leaders could compel. They came because Shawn Brimley died.

At the end of his life, Shawn was in charge of the studies conducted by one of the most influential defense-related think tanks in America, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

Read the full tribute at Esquire.