As Trump’s second term is about to start the the president-elect’s transition team has already rounded up a list of military officers they are willing to fire. The list will include the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as was revealed by two sources.
This will bring some major changes to the administration and structure of the Pentagon. Currently the plan is only in its initial stages and could change as Trump’s office starts to take shape eventually, the sources revealed.
It is still unclear if Trump himself would implement the plan or endorse it, although as previously noted Trump has Lambasted aggressively against top defence officials who on their part have criticized Trump. During his campaigning Trump was also quite vocal about firing “woke” generals and those who were responsible for the pull out from Afghanistan in 2021
The new administration would likely focus on U.S. military officers associated with Mark Milley, who was formerly the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Trump. He is the kind of leadership they believe to be in line with the attitude of disloyalty churned out by Trump allies.
“Every single person that was elevated and appointed by Milley will be gone,” the second source said, underscoring the plan to remove those linked to the former chairman.
A Highly Detailed List of Targets
“There’s a very detailed list of everybody that was affiliated with Milley. And they will all be gone,” the second source said, alluding to a major shakeup in senior military leadership. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, which ranks the highest officers in the U.S. military—from heads of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard, and Space Force—to one rank below the president, may take a hit.
Trump Chooses New Defense Chief, Boasts of Shake-Up Plans
In a bombshell revelation of plans to replace top military leaders, former President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has selected Pete Hegseth, a Fox News commentator and veteran, as his defense secretary. Hegseth has publicly said that many senior officials at the Pentagon should be fired.
Hegseth’s Vision for Pentagon Reform
Hegseth writes in his 2024 book The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free that, “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’s call for sweeping change mirrors a vision for a military led by officials more in line with the aims of his administration under Trump.
Apprehensions About Hegseth’s Experience
He is a champion of change, but there are concerns about his experience in management, which could make it more challenging for his Senate confirmation. According to some analyses, another kind of more old-fashioned candidate for the defense secretary would not do such a mass dismissal.
General C.Q. Brown at Risk of Sack
He has further complained that Milley’s successor, General C.Q. Brown, now the Air Force Chief of Staff, was appointed on race, implying a lack of merit: “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.”
Brown to Be Included in the Overhaul
A general informed for the first time about the transition plan said General Brown would most likely be one of the military officers who’d be relieved of their positions. “The chiefs of the Joint Chiefs and all the vice chiefs will be fired immediately,” he said, though acknowledged that such plans are far from being ready for implementation.
Fear Lingers Over Sharply-Shaking Change
Some current and former US officials say that such a huge overhaul of military leadership is highly unlikely. They say it would be both unnecessary and disruptive during these troubled times, with the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Challenges of Sacking High-Ranking Officials
The first source concurs that it would be a herculean task to accomplish the enormity of such a purge, as dismissing and replacing a great part of the U.S. military leadership would be a bureaucratic exercise in complexity. This implies that the plans might be for display rather than doing it, and some folks even raise the question of whether the Trump camp is staging the whole script.
Military Bureaucracy Could Be Slimmed Down
But the second source claimed that Trump’s allies “think this needs to be reduced in size and scope” due to what they characterize as overreach by bureaucrats.
Confidence in Replacements
“There is no shortage of people that will step up,” the source said of military leaders being replaceable. “These people are not irreplaceable.” The source has also emphasized that within the scope of World War II, the U.S. was able to fairly speedily appoint competent generals notwithstanding their relatively youthful ages. “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.”
This speaks of believing that the military force of the United States can continue to be effective even after major changes in its leadership.
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