Donald Trump has now purged several top-tier civilian officials at the Pentagon and replaced them with a handful of bootlicking loyalists. None of Trump's new minions are up to the jobs they now hold and these abrupt personnel changes are as destabilizing to the Pentagon as they should be deeply concerning to the country. Here are the Cliff's Notes on the personnel changes.
Newly installed
- Acting Defense Secretary: Christopher Miller, a combat veteran turned right-wing talker
- Chief of Staff: Kash Patel, a former Devin Nunes staffer who was part of the White House National Security Counsel (NSC) and worked to discredit the Russia investigation
- Acting Undersecretary of Policy: Retired Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, whose appointment to DOD was yanked earlier this year after he was exposed as a racist Obama-hating conspiracy theorist
- Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence: Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a Michael Flynn ally and former NSC staffer who allegedly supplied Rep. Nunes with information that Trump's communications were incidentally swept up by U.S. intelligence agencies conducting foreign surveillance
- General Counsel, National Security Agency: Michael Ellis, also a former Nunes and NSC staffer (he allegedly joined Cohen-Watnick in supplying intel to Nunes and later moved Trump's Ukraine call to the super secret server) who will now hold one of the most powerful legal positions in the U.S. Intelligence Community
Resigned/Forced out
- Defense Secretary: Mark Esper
- Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence: Joseph Kernan
- Acting Undersecretary of Policy: James Anderson
It's unclear what Trump intends to do with his newly installed team of reality-adjacent loyalists and disinformation specialists, but nothing good can come of it. One theory—and again, it's a theory—is that some sort of cover up is underway. Nunes coupled with abuse/mishandling of intelligence and intimate knowledge of what happened at the NSC throughout Trump's tenure are central to so many of these players. And whatever happened with Trump, Russia, Flynn, and Nunes, the other chief intelligence agencies (CIA/FBI) likely know far more than what has been publicly disclosed. Something simply doesn't feel right about all of those Nunes/NSC insiders being deployed to powerful positions at the last second.
Another possibility that seems equally as far-fetched and yet not out of the realm for the era is that Trump is trying to orchestrate a coup of some sort. Retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey told MSNBC Wednesday he had every confidence that the military leadership would never go along with any unconstitutional orders they were given, but he also said that Trump's intentions are very worrisome.
"If I was a CIA officer trying to understand what was going on in a third-world country, and I saw this pattern of behavior, I would say, the strongman is trying to take over the government and defy an election," McCaffrey said. "And I think they're playing with that idea inside the White House."
This is all pure conjecture, but Trump's erratic moves at these uncertain times warrant the type of conjecture that under usual circumstances would serve no purpose. In this case, we all need to keep a watchful eye on Trump's next moves, as we may have only seen the tip of the iceberg.
As McCaffrey said, "I have been shot at a lot and nearly killed a bunch of times. I'm not an alarmist. I stay cool under pressure. Mark me down as alarmed."
Addendum: I’m going to add in some of these tweets from Bill Kristol (I know, but I think his sources are very relevant here.) They were originally written up by community member Joe Pac. The idea of having a total takeover of U.S. intelligence by Trump loyalists, with DNI Ratcliffe already in place and a potential Haspel/Wray ouster, is frightening. Another thing to look for is whether Trump tries to replace Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs, which is a Senate confirmed post.
