{"id":108041,"date":"2025-03-04T17:35:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T23:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=108041"},"modified":"2025-03-04T17:35:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T23:35:53","slug":"108041","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=108041","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

No, Mr. Secretary, generals do not have civil service protection or tenure. They serve at the pleasure of the president.<\/a>
\nAnd if you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.<\/p>\n

Five of the ten living former Secretaries of Defense ratcheted up the warfare against President Trump when they signed what they called an \u201cAppeal to Congress<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.\u201d The gist of their complaint is that\u00a0they<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>want to veto the President\u2019s choice of his principal military advisor and other senior officers who serve at the pleasure of the President. They like their guys, and they don\u2019t like the President\u2019s choices. The conclusion that the five signers seek to foist on the American public is in their third paragraph: \u201cWe, like many Americans — including many troops — are therefore left to conclude that these leaders\u00a0are being fired for purely partisan reasons.<\/strong>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Their \u201cAppeal<\/em>\u201d is nonsense, but dangerous nonsense. It combines historical ignorance with their own partisan attempt to attack President Trump in a way that would weaken civilian control. If their \u201cAppeal\u201d were granted, it also would further the politicization of the military by plunging Congress into disputes relating to military matters that the Constitution entrusts to the President.<\/p>\n

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Five Resistors\u2019 \u201cAppeal to Congress\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe Army is a dangerous instrument to play with<\/em>.\u201d<\/h3>\n
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I shall begin at the end \u2014 with the rebellious former secretaries\u2019 conclusion: They sum up by charging the members of Congress to \u201cdo their jobs<\/em>\u201d by \u201curging them to take George Washington’s warning to hear<\/em>t.\u201d<\/div>\n
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I wonder how many of the signers knew the historical background and significance of George Washington\u2019s advice which they quote to close their\u00a0Appeal<\/em>:\u00a0\u201cThe Army is a dangerous instrument to play with<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0When he wrote that in February 1783<\/a>, Washington was warning Hamilton against trying to use the military to further political ends and undercut civilian control of the military. It was one of Washington\u2019s many affirmations of the necessity for civilian control of the military.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And if the President \u2014 any president \u2014 does not have the sole power to relieve senior military officials, and if he is required to report to both the House and the Senate to \u201cjustify each firing<\/em>\u201d as the Appeal advocates, then the president no longer has full control of his senior military officers or of the Army.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s warning fully supports civilian control over the military, including \u2014 especially \u2014 over those whom the signers refer to as \u201csenior U.S. military leaders<\/em>.\u201d And our Constitution reposes that civilian control in only one man \u2014 the President<\/strong>. By trying to usurp this presidential control of the military, these former secretaries are attempting to weaken the bedrock principal that the military must be controlled by its civilian masters.<\/p>\n

Thus, General Washington\u2019s warning most certainly does\u00a0not<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0support these rebellious signers\u2019 efforts to hamper civilian control over the military. Just the opposite; Washington refutes them.<\/p>\n

Aside from this example of historical ignorance, there are many other reasons to repudiate the rebellious signers\u2019 \u201cAppeal<\/em>.\u201d Let us consider some of them.<\/p>\n

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More historical fiction<\/h3>\n
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