Age is valuable in leaders. Here are just a few examples.

When I listen to a towering intellect like Oak Ridge’s own Dr. John Rather discuss a new concept of the universe, I don’t care that he is 86.

When former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer provides profound insight into using pragmatism over textualism in judicial review, I listen, knowing his 85-year history is instrumental in his wisdom.

How does 80-year-old Mick Jagger still fill large venues as he prances around the stage?

With our society’s worship of youth, why is 78-year-old Jaclyn Smith still a sophisticated icon and physical beauty?

Most of us would prefer to have a chief executive highly experienced in domestic and foreign affairs, but that usually comes with age. We are not betting on a 100-meter dash.

For example, in late 2022 and early 2023, actionable intelligence that Russian President Vladimir Putin would use a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon in Ukraine was significant. Analytics and intercepted high-level communication as well as evolving Russian policy were ominous.

As a cover, the Russian minister of defense warned U.S. intelligence sources that Ukraine intended to detonate a tactical dirty bomb around Kherson and blame it on Russia. This technique had been used previously as a false flag by Putin and pretext to instill “peacekeeping” troops in Ukraine.

Intense diplomacy from the Biden administration among the G20 and NATO countries combined with reaching out to China, India, and Turkey for help eventually de-escalated the risk. Without this level of intervention, things would likely have been much worse, possibly even progressing toward nuclear war.

By contrast, on the eve of the Iraq war, MI6 and the CIA were told through secret channels by Saddam Hussein's foreign minister and his head of intelligence that Iraq had no active weapons of mass destruction. This intelligence was considered highly accurate.

Then-President George W. Bush’s awareness of the false pretext for the war was confirmed by long-standing U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson. But the march to war had reached a fever pitch, and Bush chose to disregard the information.

To spread democracy throughout the Middle East, the Bush administration pushed for the Palestinian elections that resulted in Hamas gaining legitimacy in governing of Gaza. The administration had been strongly advised by a seasoned diversity of politicians and strategists against having the terrorist group on the ballot. But Bush was young and energetic. What could possibly go wrong?

I am not an epidemiologist, but in 2020 Taiwan’s 80-year-old Vice President Chen Chien-jen was. His nation of 24 million people had nine COVID deaths that year. The U.S. had 350,000. I am pretty sure Chen’s preemptive and management plans did not involve injecting bleach.

Wisdom may come with age, but there is more to it than a self-attributed “great brain.”

Over a generation, I spent a lot of time talking to older patients one-on-one, and I saw my share of stutters and mannerisms that we frequently associated with getting older. Assessing someone’s judgment ability or intellect based on these badges is a fool’s game.

William Culbert is a retired physician. He lives in Oak Ridge.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Age is valuable in leaders. Here are a few examples.