With Kelly As CoS, It Is Worth Noting How Much Power We Have Given Military Men
I know we kind of crossed this bridge back in the confirmation process last winter, but I think it is worth at least pointing out that, with Kelly moving to Chief of Staff, current and former military commanders have more political power within the civilian government than at any time in recent memory. And with Trump basically abdicating his authority in the foreign policy arena except in the case of Russia and possibly Iran, we are as close as we have been in a long time to actually seeing the loss of civilian control of the military. This is all happening willingly and with little discussion.
During the confirmation process, there was concern that military personnel would hold cabinet positions at the NSA, Defense, and, with slightly less concern, DHS. With Rex Tillerson either sidelined or totally ineffective, (it is hard to know exactly which), Mattis and McMaster now become the most powerful foreign policy voices in the cabinet, outside of perhaps Bannon and Jared. More disturbingly, Kelly is now taking over probably the most powerful position inside the White House, outside of the President himself. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way impugning the integrity of Kelly, McMaster, and Mattis or in any questioning their dedication to civilian control and the Constitution. And, in fact, I think we all appreciate the fact that, while we may not agree with them on policy, they are at least competent people trying to do a good job. And, hopefully, they will at least provide some level of sanity and reason that will be able to counter some of Trump’s worst ideas.
But we should at least recognize that this is setting a potentially dangerous precedent. While those military men may be competent, they certainly view the world and their jobs from one particular point of view which may not be helpful in certain situations. I’m not suggesting that this precedent will inevitably lead to a military takeover but it certainly takes us at least a baby-step closer to that remote possibility. And that should be something we all recognize and perhaps even discuss.