Yesterday, General Michael V. Hayden was sworn in as director of the CIA. Given that he is now the head of a
civilian agency, am I the only person to think that it was inappropriate for him to wear his
full blown military uniform with ribbons for the occasion? (NYTimes link req. reg. and should expire in 1 week)
Expanded thoughts on this after the jump...
I am not anti-military, but the security of our Republic relies heavily on separation between military and government, with the government controlling the military, not the other way around. If someone in the military takes a post in the government, he or she should leave the military, and the uniform, behind.
I might point out the example of Dwight D. Eisenhower. After being Supreme Allied Commander, and he wore a suit and tie to his inauguration as president. Granted, Eisenhower had retired from the military in order to assume the presidency, but if Hayden is not going to retire or take some kind of leave from the Air Force, he has no business running a civilian agency. Except, perhaps, in the bizarro world we find ourselves in, with a president who thinks the Consitution is an amusing, outdated collection of suggestions on how the government should work.
(crossposted to my blog, Ray's Periodic Rantings)