[ad_1]
- The Pentagon has seen a series of high-profile departures this week after President Trump said he had “fired” the Secretary of Defense, and the administration has filled a number of those gaps with Trump loyalists .
- Some members of the Defense Department and Congress have expressed concerns about the drastic measures in the aftermath of Trump’s election defeat, with a lawmaker writing in a statement that “post-election chaos has now reached the Pentagon.”
- David Lapan, a former Defense Department spokesman with decades of military service, told Insider that these measures made no sense and that part of the “cause of the alarm is not know why this is done ”.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
Key Pentagon leadership positions are filled with Trump loyalists for reasons that are unclear and of growing concern.
President Donald Trump on Monday sacked Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and the next day Chief of Staff of Secretary of Defense Jen Stewart, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy James Anderson and Under Secretary at Defense Intelligence and Security Joseph Kernan have resigned. .
Chris Miller, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, replaced Esper. Anthony Tata, a former Fox News commentator whom the Trump administration shied away from Congress to slip into the Pentagon, replaced Anderson, and Kash Patel and Ezra Cohen-Watnick, both former members of the National Security Council considered loyal to the president, replaced Stewart and Kernan. .
And there is speculation that more defense officials may be on the verge of leaving and that’s just the start – even with just 70 days before the Biden administration takes over. Trump, however, refused to admit defeat for five days and instead made a groundless claim of electoral fraud.
The wave of departures apparently sent shockwaves through the Department of Defense. A defense official told CNN the situation was “troubling”, adding that “these are dictatorial movements”. The Associated Press wrote that “unease was palpable inside” the Pentagon on Tuesday.
Rep. Adam Smith, Democrat from Washington and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, sounded the alarm on Tuesday afternoon, accusing Trump of causing chaos and division after losing the election. “This chaos has now reached the Pentagon,” he wrote.
“I have been shot a lot. I have almost been killed several times. I am not an alarmist. I try to stay calm under pressure. Mark me as alarmed,” said General Barry, four stars retired. McCaffrey said Wednesday on MSNBC.
“We are monitoring the placement of people who are not qualified to be in command of the 2.1 million men and women of the armed forces,” he added.
David Lapan, a former Pentagon spokesman with decades of military service, told Insider that part of the “cause of the alarm is not knowing why it is being done.”
“You have an administration with very little credibility, little or no credibility. The level of trust is very low, so people will naturally think of the worst,” he added. “And the administration is not taking any action to reassure anyone as to why it is taking these steps.”
“I think what concerns everyone the most is that it just doesn’t make sense,” Lapan said.
If it was vindictive, a response to Trump’s anger on Esper as Secretary of Defense, then he could have just fired Esper and raised Assistant Secretary of Defense David Norquist. But that did not happen. Instead, someone was brought in from the outside, and then the departures accelerated.
“There is no rational explanation for this,” he said. “There are a number of bad scenarios that could happen. We don’t know which of them could be true, if any, but without a better explanation people are concerned.”
Lapan noted that those arriving seem largely unqualified or underqualified for the positions they hold, potentially crippling military leaders. Some fear that these interim officials may not have the power to block or even activate the orders of a president who shows less and less respect for democratic processes.
Their lack of experience with their new roles in the Pentagon also potentially hampers the transition process, because when President-elect Joe Biden’s team is finally able to move that process forward, they will be forced to rely on people who were only at work for a matter of weeks.
Trump continues to challenge the election and repeatedly claims that Biden’s victory is fraudulent without evidence.
“Again, you have an administration that operates with a trust deficit, so in this environment people are going to question their motives,” Lapan said. “People are going to be worried about what might happen.”
The problem is that the upheaval at the Pentagon creates uncertainty for the Defense Department as a whole, for both military and civilian employees, he explained. In addition, it confuses America’s allies and potentially opens up an opening for American adversaries.
“All of these things are basically damaging, not only for the Defense Ministry, but for our country,” Lapan said. “That’s why people are worried about it. There’s just a lot of potential danger out there.”
[ad_2]
Source link