Letter to WaPo editors from former military leaders [View all]

https://wapo.st/4hRq9g9

“ As former secretaries of the military departments and retired four-star uniformed officers, we are deeply alarmed by the decision to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of naval operations and the top military lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force without due cause. These actions by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth jeopardize the strength, stability and integrity of our armed forces.


For 236 years, the U.S. military has upheld the principle of civilian control — a cornerstone of our democracy and an essential guarantee of sound national security decision-making. Civilian control means military leaders are mindful that it is the president and his appointed civilian defense leaders who set policy, which the military executes by implementing the president’s lawful orders. But this principle does not compel military leaders to demonstrate partisan loyalty to the president or to execute unlawful orders. Their oath is to support and defend the Constitution, not of loyalty to any individual...”

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