Another week, another screed over Donald Trump destroying the republic. This time, from a former Secretary of Defense.
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
US Military Oath of Enlistment
I remember taking this oath in September 1983, and yes, it put a chill up my spine. Along with initialing on my contract that I had no moral compulsions against bearing arms for my country. Everything else before this day (Air Force Junior ROTC, Army ROTC scholarship application, etc.) was for play. This is real.
Last week in The Atlantic, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta accused President Donald Trump of wanting to “politicized” the service, saying we take an oath to the Constitution, not the president. I wonder if Mr. Panetta remember this from his ROTC days. Sir, you are writing an opinion, but even a professional judgement must be based on fact. Not here. And this is one of the adults on the Democratic Party (scary thought).
The U.S. Military’s Loyalty Is to the Constitution, Not the President
National security depends on citizens’ trust in our armed forces. We lose that if we turn soldiers into law-enforcement officers.
Our security is dependent on those who are willing to fight our foreign enemies and die for their country. We honor them and their families because their bravery and courage protect our democracy. We respect our military precisely because its role in defending the nation means that the military does not get involved in politics…
Excuse me Mr. Panetta, did you miss that part of the Oath up there, “Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Don’t forget the Oath of Commissioning, “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;”
Sir you may want to refresh yourself with a document called the Constitution. Specifically, Article VI:
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land…
As I read this, federal agents were enforcing federal law in accordance with the US Constitution (i.e., Art 1, Sec 8 Powers of the Congress, “To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization”), which is the supreme Law of the Land, and a group of civilians were interfering. It’s the president’s duty to enforce the law, and he was using the legal means to do that. But according to Mr. Panetta, you don’t understand the law.
If we allow the president to politicize the military, that will undermine the trust of the American people in our national security. The mobilization of the National Guard in California has raised concerns about whether the reason for its deployment was based on real threats to law and order, or on political differences between the governor of California and the president of the United States.
Now Mr. Panetta claims falsely the Posse Comitatus Act bars the miliary from law enforcement operations and limits the guard to “invasions” or “rebellions.” Not exactly. From the Brennan Center, a very liberal legal institution (emphasis mine):
…the Insurrection Act allows the president — with or without the state government’s consent — to use the military to enforce federal law or suppress a rebellion against federal authority in a state, or to protect a group of people’s civil rights when the state government is unable or unwilling to do so.
Mr. Panetta, do you think President Lyndon Johnson exceeded his authority when he federalized the Alabama National Guard to protect civil rights protestors when state authorities would not? Or President Kennedy in 1962 to intergrade the University of Mississippi? Don’t forget President Eisenhower to enforce the integration of the Little Rock AR schools? In each case, state authorities refused to cooperate, or activity registered, federal law. Sound like last month in in Los Angeles.
Mr. Panetta further implies President Trump use of active-duty Marines violates the Insurrection Act. Wrong. Again from the leftist Brennan Center:
Invoking the Insurrection Act temporarily suspends the Posse Comitatus rule and allows the president to deploy the military to assist civilian authorities with law enforcement. That might involve soldiers doing anything from enforcing a federal court order to suppressing an uprising against the government…
…(the Insurrection Act) permits deployment to “enforce the laws” or to “suppress rebellion” whenever “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” make it “impracticable” to enforce federal law in “ordinary course of judicial proceedings…permits deployment during “an insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy” that “so hinders the execution of the laws” that any portion of the state’s inhabitants are deprived of a constitutional right and state authorities are unable or unwilling to protect that right….and “to suppress any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy” in a state that “opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”
Last month in southern California, federal agents from Immigration and Custom Enforcement were threated, in one case “chased” and prevented from doing their lawful operations. By rioters waving a Mexican flag. Sounds like an insurrection and invasion if you ask me.
Sorry Mr. Panetta, President Trump’s actions are absolutely in accordance with the laws you cite. To paraphrase Judge Lawrence Little in Presumed Innocent, “Just because you say it so don’t make it so.”
As far as “politicizing” the military, respectfully sir have you been conscious since 2009? Barrack Obama and his ilk closed multiple ROTC programs to limit recruiting of white male officers. I think that’s called discrimination by race. By not fighting a federal court’s unlawful order on homosexuals in the service, he deliberately inflicted disorder onto the institution’s that requires order the most.
The push for DEI (accurately called set asides) was shown brazenly in 2022. The then Air Force Chief of Staff signed off on a recruiting quota policy set, showing the numbers by race, sex, and ethnicity. Former Vice Preside Kamala Harris, herself a quota pick, spoke often that America is stronger when all can serve. Wrong. We are stronger when the best and most intelligent serve. There is a reason military recruiting is not covered by statues like the Americans with Disabilities Act. Injecting people with mental issues (i.e., transgenders) only weakens the service.
Another example, then Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recommended Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Samual Paparo as the next Chief of Naval Operations. As Admiral Paparo is a recognized expert on the growing threat from China, this seems like an excellent choice. However, Biden wanted a sex quota and selected the first woman to be branch chief. No question Paparo was more qualified to lead the Navy, but Franchetti lets him show a woman. Sorry to be honest, but it’s a fact.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is pushing for a military not focused on “looking like America” but back to its mission. To win our wars. Mr. Panetta, you and your party (particularly Obama, but also Clinton and Biden) are the ones trying to make the military a political instrument. Hopefully the damage Democrats have inflicted can be removed or repaired. There are serious threats out there, such as China, Russia and Iran. We need serious people to face this, and your party it now only not serious. They are openly hostile to this nation.
Michael A. Thiac is a retired Army intelligence officer, with over 23 years experience, including serving in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Middle East. He is also a retired police patrol sergeant, with over 22 years’ service, and over ten year’s experience in field training of newly assigned officers. He has been published at The American Thinker, PoliceOne.com, and on his personal blog, A Cop’s Watch.
Opinions expressed are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of current or former employers.
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The military has no place on our streets as police. We don’t live in a police state, friend. Trump is not a king, as you would like to hold him as one. No, I’m not a democrat, I’m an Independent. I call it the way I see it.
I don’t recall saying that. I made the point the armed forces, by LAW, can be used to maintain order when the civilian government fails to do, like in the case of LA.
Where did I ever call your president a “king.” Get off of Occupy Democrat for God’s sake, and post a one star Yelp on your elementary school English teacher, you can’t comprehend the language.
As far as your claim of political “independence,” in the immortal words of Dr Evil, Riiiight. Unlike you, I call them like I see them.
I’ll say Happy Independence Day, even though you’re probably be at another anti-America rally.