December 8, 2020
Like former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Biden's choice for Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, will require Congress to waive a law that excludes former military officers from serving in that position until they've been retired for 7 years.
"'The law was put in place to make sure there was a separation between the civil and military authority,' said Charles Allen, a retired Army colonel and scholar on civil-military relations at the Army War College.... [F]our years ago, Mattis was widely viewed as a necessary exception due to the concern that Trump and his team were inexperienced and the revered retired Marine would provide some stability. But the circumstances are different now. 'What I found distressing about Austin,' [said Peter Feaver, a former National Security Council official in the George W. Bush Administration and scholar on civil-military relations at Duke University], 'is that everybody understood it was problematic to issue the waiver for Mattis. But it made sense to do so given the extraordinary situation. We are supposed to be in a return to normalcy... The really unusual thing was how prominent senior retired military were in the landing teams... That is a very political post and almost always is done by civilian political people.'... If this trajectory continues it could have a detrimental effect on the military's ethical standing, said Marybeth Ulrich, a retired Air Force colonel who specializes in civil-military relations. 'You don't want people lobbying for these jobs — still on active duty or even retired,' she said. Or for the presidential candidates or their campaigns signaling to the senior officer ranks that 'you give me your support now, I give you a job.'"
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52 comments:
Well, he's a POC so, no problem.
We should recognize that the U.S. armed services have become politically problematic. They -- which is to say, elements thereof -- have become untrustworthy.
From deep in the Swamp,
Lloyd J. Austin III = CFR member,
https://www.cfr.org/membership/roster
They are NOT necessarily on our side.
Original jurisdiction
Words of the day.
See, when Trump did it, that was evidence of his desire for a military dictatorship.
Big difference.
You racists.
-XC
He fulfilled the most important criterion for Biden so who cares about all that law stuff.
They are NOT necessarily on our side.
The top brass most assuredly are NOT on our side. Rank and file military, not sure.
Based solely on my love for old Kirk Douglas movies, I hereby claim the first week in May 2021 as the time Dementia Joe gets replaced by President Harris.
Acceptance stage is supposed to be the low stressful part of grief.
This waiver law is unconstitutional.
The President nominates and it’s up to the Senate to confirm or reject. The House has no role.
Weird how the brass is all in on America Last but the enlisted are all MAGA now.
it made sense to do so given the extraordinary situation.
That was the lie they told themselves. But there was nothing extraordinary about the situation.
The recent habit of senior military officers to weigh in on civilian political issues is already a problem. I'm hardly surprised that it is set to become a bigger problem under Biden. Most things will.
Deny the waiver.
OT:
No, The Georgia Vote-Counting Video Was Not ‘Debunked.’ Not Even Close
A Big Tech-backed 'fact' 'checking' outfit claimed to debunk explosive evidence for Republicans' claims of significant election problems in Georgia. It didn't.
"We are supposed to be in a return to normalcy"
IOW, we are supposed to eat up the propaganda.
The break between the enlisted/base officers and the flag generals in DC is going to be on open display for all to see soon.
Funny how DC can take someone like Mattis and turn them into a globalist shill with only a few million dollars.
Resist
BidenFamilyTaxPayerFundedCrackPipe said...
OT:
No, The Georgia Vote-Counting Video Was Not ‘Debunked.’ Not Even Close
A Big Tech-backed 'fact' 'checking' outfit claimed to debunk explosive evidence for Republicans' claims of significant election problems in Georgia. It didn't.
That is not off topic.
There is never going to be a "Biden Administration."
"Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."Alinsky Rule #4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.
"We are supposed to be in a return to normalcy"
If the R's are smart they'll measure everything Biden wants to do by this standard. He didn't run on any policy. He has no mandate for change, other than to not stir up the electorate.
And it will drive the Progs in the party out of their minds.
"OT:
No, The Georgia Vote-Counting Video Was Not ‘Debunked.’ Not Even Close
A Big Tech-backed 'fact' 'checking' outfit claimed to debunk explosive evidence for Republicans' claims of significant election problems in Georgia. It didn't."
Or, as the lefties like to say- still no evidence. Nothing to see here, move along folks.
The flag officers are on the take. Period.
Mattis was on the Theranos Fraud board.
The revolving door is grotesque.
I would bet a fair number of them are in the Eric Swalwell Party.
On the take from Chinese spies.
Obot incest.
What is it like to go through life, doing well and getting promotions, but knowing that people are only hiring you because you check a box on a form.
Employers make of point of saying, 'I will only hire a black person, woman, LGBTQ, etc.'
And yet you still take the job, and you gratefully lick the boots of your white masters.
How can you go through life with zero pride?
This guy is a complete and total quota hire, just as Powell was.
This is why we adhere to standards. Obama did this, Bush did that, Trump did this. The fans on either side always excusing their exceptions.
It's harder to adhere to the standards 99% of the time than 100%.
Because once you allow that deviation, you are always tempted to allow it again and again. There's always a good reason.
And whether it's in 2 or 20 generations, we have a military dictatorship with all the trappings of an omnipresent police state built up in the age of liberty by useless geniuses who proudly declare after every marginal slide -- see, the world hasn't fallen apart, what are you so afraid of?
OT
“Tomorrow is an important day here in GA. I remind you again, regardless of whoever your candidate is, to stop Trump, you need to vote for Marco Rubio. He is the closest to Trump in the polls here.
This must be about stopping Trump.
Gabriel Sterling, GA Voting system implementation manager
Feb 29, 2016
From @Greg Kelly Twitter
"We should recognize that the U.S. armed services have become politically problematic. They -- which is to say, elements thereof -- have become untrustworthy."
The upper levels of the flag officer ranks have always (or at least since I was first commissioned in 1968) been almost entirely political. This was exacerbated during the Obama administration wherein cronyism, political correctness and connections became much more important than war fighting skills or demonstrated field leadership. Much of the current crop of 3 and 4 stars are survivors of the Obama purges, hence necessarily primarily political officers. There aren't many left like Mike Flynn who will maintain a higher loyalty to the service mission regardless the personal or political sacrifices. And with good reason.
"This waiver law is unconstitutional. The President nominates and it’s up to the Senate to confirm or reject. The House has no role."
Interesting claim. What do the "law-talkin' guys" have to say about that.
What's the point of a law if they can waive it?
Much of the current crop of 3 and 4 stars are survivors of the Obama purges, hence necessarily primarily political officers. There aren't many left like Mike Flynn who will maintain a higher loyalty to the service mission regardless the personal or political sacrifices. And with good reason.
Yup. Mattis showed what a fool he is in the Theranos scandal. He wanted DOD to buy the vaporware product Theranos was supposed to be making.
The safe rule is "Trust no one over O-6."
Blogger mockturtle said...They are NOT necessarily on our side.
The top brass most assuredly are NOT on our side. Rank and file military, not sure.
Hopefully the fragging starts soon.
c365 said...
This is why we adhere to standards. Obama did this, Bush did that, Trump did this. The fans on either side always excusing their exceptions.
The things we have learned in the last 4 years about just how corrupt DC actually is from top to bottom including pretty much every institution change how we need to look at everything that has been going on for the last 3 decades.
Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union all of the agencies stood up to fight the Soviet Union have turned themselves against the United States and it's people.
Interesting note: taking a bit of a break from his round the clock praise of radical left democratical Gov Whitmer, exposed liar and FakeCon LLR-lefty Chuck praised Hillary Clinton and strongly endorsed the openly marxist democratical Senate candidate in GA.
Because that is how you "conserve conservatism"....(wink wink)
The number of wars they found for us to fight should be looked at more closely.
Biden’s handlers are planning to “Wag the Dog” with Iran.
Pro-marxist LLR-lefty Chuck (who did not serve but once wrote a 17,000 word post essay on his agonizing 37 second decision making process which led to his not joining the military): "...due to Trump’s near-complete lack of military, defense department, and political experience."
Trump's record of foreign policy and military policy success is unmatched in the modern era...
...which is simply another reason the deep staters despised him.
Remember, LLR-lefty (and unsurprisingly pro-marxist) Chuck predicted loudly and proudly for 4 years that Trump would deliver no economic treaty nor foreign policy agreement success and would have the US mired in lost military ventures.
LLR-lefty Chuck's predictive record, at the end of 4 years, remains at a steady Zero.
Consistency is not always a good thing.
Return to normalcy?
Much too late for that.
[F]our years ago, Mattis was widely viewed as a necessary exception due to the concern that Trump and his team were inexperienced and the revered retired Marine would provide some stability. But the circumstances are different now.'
Shucks, as I remember it, a "Mad Dog" Mattis was needed to crush an ISIS caliphate that had festered for years under Obama-Biden and was persistently in the news as one of the great threats to the world and the nation.
How quickly they forget specific objectives and accomplishments.
Wince: "How quickly they forget specific objectives and accomplishments."
According to our modern day "Clauswitz-in-his-own-mind" LLR-lefty Chuck, crushing ISIS and forging a much stronger Israel/Arab State counter weight to Biden's (and thus LLR-lefty Chuck's) beloved Iranian mullah-led regime, amongst other achievements, never happened at all.
And, of course, Mattis was given years to formulate the plan to exit the useless Afghanistan military venture and Mattis, hot off his participation in the Theranos debacle, failed to do so.
So much for that vaunted military "expertise".
Ike was as "inside" that crew as any human being could be and he called them out publicly 40 years ago.
There is a reason the phrase "putting the fox in charge of the henhouse" is trotted out so often. The US military, allied with the big defense industries, is a disgrace. It is a carbuncle on American society. Look at President Eisenhower's warning. Putting a former general and former director of a defense industry giant in in charge means we will have at least four more years of huge sums being wasted on the building and upkeep of literally hundreds of foreign bases, huge sums wasted on weapon systems that will turn out being capable of being defeated by home-made devices built in garages located in African slums, more foreign Interventions (why is the word "war" never mentioned? It is always "interventions" as if the US is daddy and mommy sitting down with a son to tell him to cut down on the drinking.) And more bombs built in the US dropping on remote wedding parties scattered around the world in places not more than the ten congress people (if that) could point out on a map. No democracy at home, but plenty of wars abroad to spread democracy.
I work with the military. That is, I did, until fairly recently. Same-same for the DOJ and the three-letter agencies. I don't trust anyone in any of them, in and out of uniform. I don't count on any of them for anything. I'm reconciled to the idea that, in the event of the outbreak of civil armed conflict, we're on our own and the aforementioned should be regarded as enemies or adversaries unless and until they demonstrate otherwise.
"Ike was as "inside" that crew as any human being could be and he called them out publicly 40 years ago."
Ike had actual street cred...beating the Nazis looks good on a resumé : )
I think generals are just like any other group of executives.
At some point, they get fat, lazy, and happy cruising along, not rocking the boat, and waiting for the stock options to kick in (or the consulting gig with Raytheon).
Very few Ikes or Pattons left these days...
Very few Ikes or Pattons left these days...
Very few Ikes or Pattons in World War II, or for that matter at any other time in history. This is true of all armies in all eras, since the dawn of organized warfare. Sturgeon's Law applies, ruthlessly. For every Patton, Guderian, Brusilov, Wellington, etc., you get 10 Fredendalls and McClellans. The men at the top of the military hierarchies, if they are at all competent, recognize that this phenomenon is endlessly recurring and enduring and find (or don't find, as the case may be) ways of dealing with it. It can never be eradicated. Marshall was a genius in this regard. So, e.g., was Joffre. In the opening weeks of the First World War, the French commander in chief sacked several generals every day for their performance failures. Due to his decisiveness -- his leadership -- he stopped the German army cold at the Marne, winning one of the most consequential battles in history.
Maybe Netflix could make a movie about someone stealing an American election. They could have good-looking actors in really nice costumes to play all the parts, and arrange to have dramatic confrontations, where the good guys show how good they are, saying lots of virtuous things, and the bad guys are really bad, but clever; selfish and cynical, but in an amusing way. Then Althouse might find the whole thing interesting.
Weird to me that with so many candidates available for the position he should pick the one guy that, by a law I assume he voted for, needs a special waiver to accept the position. Just shows how narrowly one looks when focused on fulfilling one's diversity promises. But I guess it beats selecting based on who can afford one's country club entrance fees.
Proper response: reject ALL such waivers
Dear political whore military officers: you are dead to us, and we will not let you cash in
I have been puzzling over this off and on today. My conclusion is that the seven year hiatus is a good idea. Also I think the
SecDef should be a civilian not an ex-military type. Besides the obvious problem of Obama appointed officers at the top I think it is the rare career military man who doesn't see every problem as a nail for which he has the hammer. A civilian has at least some experience in a field other than the military and is more capable of telling the Generals, who are always eager to fight the next war, to stand down. I think that was part of the problem with Mattis. He knew only a couple of ways to approach and solve a problem and they always included sending somebody's kids into harm's way. Trump did not have that kind of knee jerk reaction neither should a future SecDef.
"The upper levels of the flag officer ranks have always (or at least since I was first commissioned in 1968) been almost entirely political. This was exacerbated during the Obama administration wherein cronyism, political correctness and connections became much more important than war fighting skills or demonstrated field leadership. Much of the current crop of 3 and 4 stars are survivors of the Obama purges, hence necessarily primarily political officers."
When General Raymond Johns was the AMC CC, he told us at a staff meeting that the single greatest threat to the US was climate change...
Ambitious ranking officers have always been political toadies. I remember when the wing commander of Clark AB, whose name and signature started with 'James L. ...', changed it to 'Jimmy L. ...' when Carter was elected.
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