President-elect Donald Trump has tapped at least three retired generals to fill his administration’s top national-security positions.
He’s considering two others, Gen. David Petraeus and Navy Adm. James Stavridis, for the role of secretary of state.
And in the running for other high-level national-security positions have been the NSA director, Adm. Mike Rogers, as well as retired generals Jack Keane and Stanley McChrystal.
The nominees — retired Gen. James Mattis as defense secretary, retired Gen. John Kelly as homeland security secretary, and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser — and potential nominees have sparked fears of a potential imbalance in civilian and military relations in a Trump administration.
“When many of the norms and institutions are under attack, we need to be more, not less, careful about the role of the military in our society,” Stephen Saideman, an expert on civil-military relations, wrote Thursday.
“Getting any complex agency to follow orders is hard,” Saideman wrote, referring to the US military. “Especially one that largely lives apart from society, that tends to attract leadership from only a small portion of the country, that socializes so very powerfully, and that is seen as one of the few institutions that is highly esteemed these days.”
Photo courtesy of AP.
Read the whole story from Business Insider.
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped at least three retired generals to fill his administration’s top national-security positions.
He’s considering two others, Gen. David Petraeus and Navy Adm. James Stavridis, for the role of secretary of state.
And in the running for other high-level national-security positions have been the NSA director, Adm. Mike Rogers, as well as retired generals Jack Keane and Stanley McChrystal.
The nominees — retired Gen. James Mattis as defense secretary, retired Gen. John Kelly as homeland security secretary, and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser — and potential nominees have sparked fears of a potential imbalance in civilian and military relations in a Trump administration.
“When many of the norms and institutions are under attack, we need to be more, not less, careful about the role of the military in our society,” Stephen Saideman, an expert on civil-military relations, wrote Thursday.
“Getting any complex agency to follow orders is hard,” Saideman wrote, referring to the US military. “Especially one that largely lives apart from society, that tends to attract leadership from only a small portion of the country, that socializes so very powerfully, and that is seen as one of the few institutions that is highly esteemed these days.”
Photo courtesy of AP.
Read the whole story from Business Insider.
COMMENTS
There are on this article.
You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article.