Politicizing the U.S. Military

The mission of the Department of Defense is to defend the nation. The pride of the American military is its history of not getting involved in domestic politics.

Its vital role of discouraging enemies from attacking the U.S. has been fulfilled so far, despite budget challenges. However, many both within and close to the military correctly perceive the armed forces as being focused on and distracted by issues and programs unrelated to its mission.

The issue arose to prominence during the Obama and Biden Administrations. A 2013 Investors article noted that Obama cleansed the military of any officer suspected of “disloyalty to or disagreement with the administration on matters… An important example includes relieving General Carter Ham, who was dismissed as head of U.S. Africa Command after only a year and a half because he disagreed with orders not to mount a rescue mission in response to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi. In addition, Rear Adm. Chuck Gaouette, commander of the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, was relieved in October 2012 for disobeying orders when he sent his group on Sept. 11 to ‘assist and provide intelligence for’military forces ordered into action by Gen. Ham. Other removals include the sacking of two nuclear commanders in a single week — Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, head of the 20th Air Force, responsible for the three wings that maintain control of the 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles, and Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, the No. 2 officer at U.S. Strategic Command.”

Breitbart listed at least 197 officers relieved of duty by President Obama “for a laundry list of reasons and sometimes with no reason given….” According to Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely, who stated that “He’s (Obama) [is] intentionally weakening and gutting our military, [the] Pentagon and reducing us as a superpower, and anyone in the ranks who disagrees or speaks out is being purged’.”

The controversy continues under the Biden Administration, with a focus on distracting the services from their core defense mission with unrelated priorities.

Almost immediately after taking office, President Biden focused on emphasizing DEI in the military.

In January 2021, President Biden signed multiple Executive Orders (E.O.) to advance equity across multiple focus areas:

• E.O. 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, January 20, 2021, calls on Federal and DoD agencies to advance equity through identifying and addressing barriers to equal opportunity that underserved communities may face.

• E.O. 13988, Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender – Identity or Sexual Orientation, January 20, 2021, which emphasizes the need to prevent and combat discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation and fully enforce Title VII and other laws that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

• E.O. 14004, Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform, January 25, 2021, advances policy that all transgender individuals who wish to serve in the U.S. military and who meet the appropriate standards shall be able to do so openly and free from discrimination.

On June 25, 2021, President Biden issued E.O. 14035 (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce), which promotes “the vital role DEIA plays in cultivating a workforce needed to mitigate the threats of tomorrow. Consistent with the government-wide priority for each agency to provide DEIA leadership at the senior-most level, DoD appointed the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness as the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer (CDIO) who will provide cohesive oversight and integration for DEIA efforts. Increased cohesion and integration allows the Department to strategically approach DEIA beyond the traditional focal areas of demographic representation to better achieve DoD’s broader mission of providing the forces necessary to secure the nation.”

The article concludes tomorrow

Photo: Dept. of Defense

Quick Analysis

NATO’s Growing Challenges

Gen. Christopher Cavoli, supreme allied commander Europe and the head of U.S. European Command has warned of growing threats facing NATO. “There is a lot of work to be done, and there are big challenges looming — some of them are right in our face, right now,” he warned at the Aspen Security Forum. He is not alone in his concern. the Germany-based Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom notes that “The beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine … marked a deep break … Questions concerning Europe‘s self-image as a voluntary alliance of nation states, its ability to defend itself and the protection though NATO as well as the values for which it stands are further tested by refugees coming to Europe from Ukraine. The democracies of the European Union are vulnerable and their reaction to Putin’s war are carefully watched. Authoritarian states, such as China, predict Europe’s decline and emphasize their own superiority over the ‘Western systems.’” The most interesting fact General Cavoli emphasized was that, in addition to the renewed danger from expansionist Russia, is the growing threat from China. The German Marshall Fund describes the problem.. “Russia and China continue to deepen their partnership, mounting a common challenge to the West. They can advance their strategic objectives better together, undermining perceived Western domination of the global order and impacting Europe’s future security. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has de facto upended the post-Cold War security architecture in Europe and is a direct, existential threat to European security. Beijing plays an important role for Russia’s war efforts, regardless of China’s status as Europe’s largest trading partner or its desire to hedge on Europe to win its geostrategic competition with the United States. “ NATO has continued to concentrate on the potential threat from Beijing. . It developed its concern against the backdrop of China’s designation as a “long-term strategic competitor.” Both the Trump and Biden administrations have sought to expand transatlantic cooperation on China, motivated by the belief that greater European support to US policies is key to effectively addressing the economic, political and strategic challenges associated with China’s growth. While Washington has put much emphasis on discussing with the EU and individual European countries how best to tackle the geo-economic, technological and diplomatic challenges associated with China’s rise and behaviour, NATO has also become an increasingly important partof transatlantic cooperation on China. Some Chinese military threats to Europe are conventional. China and Russia have engaged in joint maneuvers in the Mediterranean, and the Chinese naval presence in the Middle East has grown. Others are of a different variety. The Atlantic Council says that some Chinese threats to European security are merely insidious. For example, China undermines Europe’s military capabilities by stealing defense-related intellectual property and sharing it with its own military and defense industry as China develops new weapons and capabilities. Similarly, Chinese investment in European infrastructure—especially shipping terminals, utilities, and telecommunications networks—provides an excellent platform for intelligence-gathering on NATO military operations. In a worst-case scenario, China could weaponize its ownership or operation of infrastructure in Europe to frustrate, limit, or prevent US or allied use. In other cases, the Chinese threat to Europe manifests in the form of outright attacks. Chinese cyberattacks on European government, industry, military, academic, and civil institutions—including, reportedly, on hospitals during the pandemic—are relentless and massive. In 2014, NATO declared that cyberattacks could trigger the invocation of Article 5, the Alliance’s mutual-defense clause. Increasingly, the links between Russia, China, and now Iran as well, are a source of deep concern to Europe, the United States, and other nations.