New Revolt of the Generals?

Military leaders in the United States must be apolitical to protect the sanctity of civilian control of the military. This was the established norm for decades. Under President Trump, however, remaining apolitical might run the risk of violating national interests and security. Retired general Joseph Dunford, for example, stayed out of the political fray for the majority of his career until Alexander Vindman, the White House Ukraine specialist and one of Dunford’s officers, had his patriotism questioned by the Trump Administration to score political points and undermine the impeachment inquiry. Many current senior military leaders will not openly criticize Trump’s decision to abandon Kurdish allies in northern Syria, but several have been willing to do so anonymously. Retired military leaders have been more vocal, some implying Trump should listen to the advice of military officials more while others call for his impeachment outright. There is reportedly great concern within the defense industry that military advice is not being sought or listened to. The question now is, how much influence should military advice have over executive decision making? Civilian control of the military was established to prevent the rise of a military dictatorship. Military advice is necessary, however, for informed and effective policy making in national security and defense. A primary concern of retired military officials seems to be not only that they disagree with policy but also that they are not sure there even is a real policy. Some defense and national security academics argued that the United States was never more vulnerable to a military coup than when Trump surrounded himself with former and current military officials on the National Security Council (i.e. H.R. McMasters, John Kelly, Michael Flynn, etc). No coup occurred, however, but senior military officials do seem to be struggling with the Constitutional mandate to defer to civilian control of the military when the civilian in control is Donald Trump.