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The Deeper Problem Behind General Milley’s ‘Secret Phone Calls’
Sept. 18, 2021

By Kori Schake
Ms. Schake, a foreign policy expert who worked for the National Security Council and the State Department during George W. Bush’s administration, is the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

A new book reports that Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, improperly restricted the president of the United States’ ability to use military force and committed to warning China, an American adversary, of any impending U.S. military action against it. If the book, “Peril,” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, accurately recounts General Milley’s behavior, his actions could be an egregious series of violations of the norms that govern civil-military relations in the United States.

The context surrounding General Milley’s actions is unclear and may be exculpating. For example, while The Washington Post’s description of “a pair of secret phone calls” suggests furtive behavior, Jennifer Griffin, a Fox News correspondent, reports that there were 15 people on the calls, including State Department representatives. It’s possible the calls were not secret from his civilian superiors, but carried that classification because any conversation with a foreign counterpart would. And the authors of “Peril” are unlikely to know whether the Chinese general “took the chairman at his word,” although they assert it.

There are also other potential explanations for General Milley’s actions less salacious than the Woodward and Costa telling accounts for. But the problem runs deeper than the specifics of General Milley’s actions and signals trouble for the relationship between our military and the civilians it is intended to serve.

A phone call between General Milley and Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, was reported several months ago as General Milley explaining to the person second in the line of succession to the presidency the legal procedures for the president to initiate nuclear war, something valuable to reaffirm.

Though the president is commander in chief, Congress also provides civilian control of the military and requires every two-star general and above to commit to inform it of concerns they have about executive branch actions. So General Milley discussing the president’s soundness with the speaker of the House, while unseemly, could be understood as fulfilling his constitutional responsibilities.

It is also true that the U.S.-China military relationship is not well established, so it would be sensible to minimize miscalculation by the Chinese military, which probably poorly understands the American political process, in the confusion following the events of Jan. 6.

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Yet

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General Milley’s actions apparently came as a surprise to at least some Trump administration national security officials. Whether that’s indicative of a clandestine move by the chairman or simply the routine dysfunction of an administration that wasn’t well managed is difficult to assess. We may never find out the full story: It’s unlikely that General Milley or other military leaders would publicly rebut the account, since that would draw them further into the glare of civilian politics.

But even if the Woodward and Costa account sensationalizes General Milley’s actions, his choices are problematic for civil-military relations. Account after account of the Trump administration is rife with General Milley’s friends and colleagues describing his conversations and ascribing the noblest of motives to him. Either General Milley has the most indiscreet circle of acquaintances in Washington or he’s authorizing it to reshape his image.

One can sympathize with the general’s frustration of having as his legacy the image of him striding through Lafayette Square in combat fatigues alongside a president who is threatening to use the military against American citizens and still think it’s unbecoming for the president’s senior military adviser to be so actively working to cast himself as the savior of the Republic.

Nor is the problem just optics. As Carrie Lee rightly assesses in The Washington Post, General Milley talking up his role both damages the trust civilians have in the military and encourages further politicization of the military itself. Presidents believing the military is working against them or is incapable of maintaining confidentiality will discredit the military’s advice. And future military leaders with less noble motives will be less confined by the civil-military norms that General Milley’s choices are weakening.

In 1974, Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger instructed military leaders to check with him or Secretary of State Henry Kissinger before executing a nuclear launch order from President Nixon. The Costa and Woodward book compares General Milley’s actions to that.

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The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is not in the chain of command, but in General Milley’s case, most of the civilian control in the Pentagon was at that point unconfirmed — and probably unconfirmable — by Congress.

Some argue that military leaders interposing themselves between the president and a politically motivated war is the least bad choice. Even in the extreme circumstances of a wildly erratic president attempting to use the military to prevent the succession of power, it’s dangerous to have military leaders subvert civilian control of the military in the way a chairman of the Joint Chiefs “pulling a Schlesinger” implies. An unsound president is a danger to democracy, but a military that considers itself the arbiter of elected leaders’ lawful authorities is also a danger to democracy.

America’s uniformed leaders did an outstanding job ensuring that our military kept out of politics during and after a contested election. They deserve enormous credit for that professionalism and service to the nation. They’d deserve even more credit if they’d stop publicizing it.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Is the military still under civilian control?

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Milley warned Trump off violence against ‘penny packet’ George Floyd protesters, book claims

Gino Spocchia
Fri, September 17, 2021,

The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff [Milley] told Donald Trump that demonstrations over the death of George Floyd were "penny packet protests" and that those taking part were “not burning” America down,

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According to an upcoming book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Mark Milley sought to assure Mr Trump that Black Lives Matter demonstrators were not dangerous, and were not “burning America down”.

The conversation, which according to Fox News occurred in May 2020, was an apparent bid to ward Mr Trump off military action towards demonstrators after Floyd’s murder by police on 25 May in Minneapolis.

Rioting occurred in a number of US cities following Floyd’s death, causing Mr Trump to write on Twitter that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" — in remarks that were condemned as an apparent incitement to violence.

“They used spray paint, Mr President, that’s not an insurrection," Gen Milley reportedly said of the demonstrators, who first assembled in Minneapolis. “They are not burning [America] down”.

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Milley warned Trump off violence against ‘penny packet’ George Floyd protesters, book claims

Gino Spocchia
Fri, September 17, 2021,

The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff [Milley] told Donald Trump that demonstrations over the death of George Floyd were "penny packet protests" and that those taking part were “not burning” America down, a new book claims.

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According to an upcoming book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Mark Milley sought to assure Mr Trump that Black Lives Matter demonstrators were not dangerous, and were not “burning America down”.

The conversation, which according to Fox News occurred in May 2020, was an apparent bid to ward Mr Trump off military action towards demonstrators after Floyd’s murder by police on 25 May in Minneapolis.

Rioting occurred in a number of US cities following Floyd’s death, causing Mr Trump to write on Twitter that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" — in remarks that were condemned as an apparent incitement to violence.

“They used spray paint, Mr President, that’s not an insurrection," Gen Milley reportedly said of the demonstrators, who first assembled in Minneapolis. “They are not burning [America] down”.

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By the Department of Defense’s own accounting, taxpayers spent $13.34 trillion on the U.S. military from 2000 through fiscal year 2019 in inflation-adjusted 2020 dollars. Add to that another $3.18 trillion for the Veterans Administration, and the yearly average comes to a whopping $826 billion.

No other country’s military outlays come close. In FY 2019, the Pentagon’s budget was nearly three times bigger than China’s defense spending and more than 10 times larger than Russia’s. All told, the U.S. military budget in 2019 exceeded the next 10 countries’ defense budgets combined and singlehandedly accounted for a hefty 38 percent of military spending worldwide.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

I've been puzzling over who's pulling Biden's* strings. Looking back on the Obama administration, it was obvious the CIA/ (deep) State Dept were running him. Looking back on Trump, it looks like he and the military were in a marriage of convenience, until the military decided it wanted out.

But so far the Biden* administration has been a puzzle.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

So, whose shoulders does the Afghanistan withdrawal fumble rest on?

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Nobody cares about what happened with the Afghan troops. Really. That had zero to do with the planning and execution of US withdrawal.

The US military had a deadline date to meet to withdraw. The withdrawal wasn't completed in good order by that date. AFAIK the US military is on the same calendar the rest of the country is on.

So ... who fumbled the withdrawal?

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Don't give a shit about Afghanistan.

I'm concerned about the 100,000 sleeper cell agents that the Biden* Administration is spending $6.4 Billion relocating all around the US right now.

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Don't give a shit about Afghanistan.

I'm concerned about the 100,000 sleeper cell agents that the Biden* Administration is spending $6.4 Billion relocating all around the US right now.

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By sleeper cell agent you actually mean workers who will take jobs that even illegal Mexicans won't take. It is Trumptards, not Afghans, who will be future terrorists on killing sprees.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Kyle+Rittenhouse
https://www.google.com/search?q=BLM+protester+killed+by+car

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Keep your delusions to yourself.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
You keep projecting all of your shortcomings and your failed life on others as long as you'd like buddy.

The only one who's miserable here is you.

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Originally posted by second:
I heard a simpler version of the argument you are making when I was a child: "I'm rubber. You're glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you." 6ix, none of following stick to me. You are the one addicted to nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, marijuana, Trump, misogyny, racism, Islamophobia.

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Those are just the ones I remember. 6ix, your superiority complex is hanging out where anybody can see,

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Originally posted by second:
I heard a simpler version of the argument you are making when I was a child: "I'm rubber. You're glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you." 6ix, none of following stick to me. You are the one addicted to nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, marijuana, Trump, misogyny, racism, Islamophobia.

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This from the guy who hates republicans, nationalists, and anyone who disagrees with him.

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Those are just the ones I remember. 6ix, your superiority complex is hanging out where anybody can see,

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This from the guy who ROUTINELY claims that others are "inferior" in a multitude of ways?

SECOND, your lack of self-reflection and insight is a astonishing, and a lesson to anyone who reads your posts!

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:


US House approves $1 billion for Israel's Iron Dome defense system

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/23/politics/iron-dome-house-vote/index
.html


It looks like the House is working for the US military - and Israel - and not the US. Can one say the military is under civilian control when the civilians are doing what the military tells them to?

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You'll find that the Congressmen who voted for Iron Dome own Raytheon stock, so they kind of are paying themselves.
https://prospect.org/power/the-members-of-congress-who-profit-from-war/

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The final vote was 420-9 with two present. Eight Democrats and one Republican voted against the bill.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

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You'll find that the Congressmen who voted for Iron Dome own Raytheon stock, so they kind of are paying themselves.
https://prospect.org/power/the-members-of-congress-who-profit-from-war/

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The final vote was 420-9 with two present. Eight Democrats and one Republican voted against the bill.

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Even your own link doesn't pretend that 420 members of the House have stock in Raytheon.

So, no, it's not about members of the House owning Raytheon stock.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
At least Second seems to be starting to just throw both sides of the government under the bus indiscriminately, as they should be.

Maybe I was wrong that he can never grow.

All it took was less than one year of the worst President* that America's ever had, huh?

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
No shit.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
No shit dude.

Hey. Maybe we have before us one of those rare instances where we found some common ground.

We're over there causing mayhem because it lines the pockets of the truly rich and powerful, meanwhile, we're letting invaders in our country and doing nothing about it.

The US Federal government has failed and should be dismantled.

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the voters feel like they aren't safe unless Defense has a huge budget

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

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the voters feel like they aren't safe unless Defense has a huge budget

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Nah. It's about the president whipping up war-hunger to distract voters from failed domestic policies and create a sense of unity because it's the only thing the politicians haven't divided the country on.

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Originally posted by SECOND:
Joe Biden is the only recent president who has stood up to the Blob:

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