More than a dozen top former Pentagon officials are raising their concerns about the “exceptionally challenging civilian-military environment” based on the “extreme strain” of the COVID-19 pandemic and political polarization.
The signatories of the letter, which include eight former secretaries of defense and five former Joint Chiefs of Staff leaders, referenced the conclusions of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan “without all the goals satisfactorily accomplished,” the coronavirus pandemic, and the “divisiveness of affective polarization” that resulted “in the first election in over a century when the peaceful transfer of political power was in doubt” as contributing factors to the strain.
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“Looking ahead, all of these factors could well get worse before they get better,” the letter reads, which was published Tuesday morning by War on the Rocks, a national security analysis and commentary website. “In such an environment, it is helpful to review the core principles and best practices by which civilian and military professionals have conducted healthy American civil-military relations in the past — and can continue to do so, if vigilant and mindful.”
Two former Trump administration defense secretaries, Mark Esper and James Mattis, signed the letter, as did former secretaries Ash Carter, William Cohen, Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, Leon Panetta, and William Perry. The former Joint Staff chairmen who participated were retired Gens. Martin Dempsey, Joseph Dunford Jr., Richard Myers, and Peter Pace and retired Adm. Michael Mullen.
They also noted that “military officials are required to carry out legal orders the wisdom of which they doubt,” adding: “Civilian officials should provide the military ample opportunity to express their doubts in appropriate venues. Civilian and military officials should also take care to properly characterize military advice in public. Civilian leaders must take responsibility for the consequences of the actions they direct.”
The group of former DOD leaders includes defense secretaries who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
Mullen, who was the Joint Chiefs chairman under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, told the Washington Post that he’s concerned the United States is “on the threshold of losing a democracy,” adding, “We live in remarkably confusing times, and clarity on this issue is very important.”
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“It’s a really dangerous time for us in the military, and the forces are out there to try to politicize us more, so clarity here is really important,” he continued, noting that “everything is politicized” in the current political climate.
