Trump's team drawing up list of Pentagon officers to be fired

14/11/2024 5:43

        Members of
        President-elect Donald Trump's transition team are drawing up a
        list of military officers to be fired, potentially to include
        the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two sources said, in what would be an
        unprecedented shakeup at the Pentagon.
        
        The planning for the firings is at an early stage after
        Trump's Nov. 5 election victory and could change as Trump's
        administration takes shape, said the sources, who are familiar
        with the Trump transition and requested anonymity to speak
        candidly about the plans.
        
        One of the sources questioned the feasibility of a mass
        firing at the Pentagon.
        It was also unclear if Trump himself would endorse the plan,
        although in the past he has railed extensively against defense
        leaders who have criticized him. Trump has also spoken during
        the campaign of firing "woke" generals and those responsible for
        the troubled 2021 pullout from Afghanistan.
        
        The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to request
        for comment.
        
        The second source said the incoming administration would
        likely focus on U.S. military officers seen as connected to Mark
        Milley, Trump's former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
        Milley was quoted in the book "War" by Bob Woodward, which was
        published last month, calling Trump "fascist to the core" and
        Trump's allies have targeted him for perceived disloyalty to the
        former president.
        
        "Every single person that was elevated and appointed by
        Milley will be gone," the second source said.
        
        "There's a very detailed list of everybody that was
        affiliated with Milley. And they will all be gone."
        
        The Joint Chiefs of Staff include the highest ranking
        officers in the U.S. military and comprise the heads of the
        Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard and Space Force.
        The disclosure of plans to fire senior leaders of the U.S. armed
        forces comes a day after Trump picked as his defense secretary
        Pete Hegseth, a Fox News commentator and veteran who has
        signaled a willingness to clean house at the Pentagon.
        
        "The next president of the United States needs to radically
        overhaul Pentagon senior leadership to make us ready to defend
        our nation and defeat our enemies. Lots of people need to be
        fired," Hegseth said in his 2024 book "The War on Warriors:
        Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free."
        
        It is unclear if Hegseth's lack of management experience
        could complicate his Senate confirmation and if a more
        traditional alternative for the position would carry out such
        sweeping dismissals.
        
        
        
        GENERAL BROWN TO BE AMONG THE FIRST FIRED
        
        Hegseth has also taken aim at Milley's successor, Air Force
        General C.Q. Brown, asking whether he would have gotten the job
        if he were not Black.
        
        "Was it because of his skin color? Or his skill? We'll never
        know, but always doubt - which on its face seems unfair to CQ.
        But since he has made the race card one of his biggest calling
        cards, it doesn't really much matter," he wrote.
        
        The first source familiar with the transition planning said
        Brown would be among the many officers to leave.
        
        "The chiefs of the Joint Chiefs and all the vice chiefs will
        be fired immediately," the source said, before noting that this
        was still only early planning.
        
        Some current and former U.S. officials have played down the
        possibility of such a major shakeup, saying it would be
        unnecessary and disruptive at a time of global turmoil with wars
        raging in Ukraine and the Middle East.
        
        The first source said that it would be difficult
        bureaucratically to fire and replace a large swath of senior
        U.S. military officials, suggesting the planning could be
        bluster and posturing by Trump allies.
        But the second source suggested the Trump camp believed the
        Joint Chiefs of Staff needed to shrink due to perceived
        bureaucratic over-reach.
        Such cuts could be endured in an organization the scale of the
        U.S. military, the source said.
        
        "These people are not irreplaceable. They are very
        replaceable. And then the other thing too is there is no
        shortage of people that will step up," the source said.
        
        "In World War Two, we were very rapidly appointing people in
        their 30s or people competent to be generals. And you know what?
        We won the war."