Tag: Secretary Hegseth

Sec Hegseth

Several residents in my condo work in the Pentagon or are in the Navy. They have complained to me that Sec Hegseth has fired some of the most outstanding Generals in our military. I asked Walter Slocombe, who was the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy during the Clinton Administration, what he thought about that. Here is his reply.

“Re firings.  The military like other huge complex organizations is shaped by its top leadership and civilian control includes choosing top level promotions.  And it’s legitimate for the Secretary of Defense to pick officers partly on the basis of whether he believes candidate shares his policy views.

“That said it is dangerous to make these choices largely on that factor.  The risk is great of incubating political cliques in the associated with parties or individual politicians.  (I had the impression the Bundeswehr had some of this.)

“Moreover its important the top leadership feel free to be candid with the civilians (while being equally committed to execute decisions once made.)  Hegseth goes way over the line in prioritizing loyalty.

“In addition he apparently believes virtually any woman or minority in a senior job is a “DEI hire.”  That means the senior officers will be even more heavily white than is now the case.  It seems clear that Hegseth systematically rejects recommendation for promotions of non-white males.

“Principles aside going in that direction that ignores the very real facts about the demography of the military–30% of enlisted are Black and 18% are Hispanic.  But only 25% of officers are black or Hispanic.  And only 11% of generals and admirals are minorities or Hispanic.  That disparity inevitably affects perspectives in the force.  It’s not that officers % must exactly match enlisted but that explicit discrimination is very bad for morale.”

Portland, Oregon

Three years ago (June 2022) I accepted an invitation to speak at the Western Economic Association meeting in Portland Oregon because it provided the opportunity to visit with my family. My daughter and her two kids live near Seattle and my son and four of his five kids live in Vancouver Washington across the Columbia River from Portland. My daughter and her kids came down to Portland for the occasion and we have a wonderful dinner together in the city.

Serious crime peaked in Portland that year with 95 homicides.  We were also aware of the unsightly presence of the homeless sleeping on sidewalks. Since then serious crime has rapidly declined, with homicides falling to half that number in 2024. President Donald Trump has repeatedly described Portland as “war ravaged” and a “hotbed of violent protest activity”.  He has directed the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to deploy troops to protect Portland and ICE facilities from groups like Antifa which he refers to as “domestic terrorists”. Antifa, by the way, is not an organization but rather a term to describe those fighting fascism.

“Trump on Saturday said he had authorized the use of “full force” if needed to suppress protests targeting immigration detention centers.  Oregon has responded by suing the Trump administration, arguing that the deployment of the National Guard to Portland is “unlawful”. The lawsuit, filed on Sunday by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, called the move “provocative and arbitrary”, and said it “threatens to undermine public safety by inciting a public outcry”. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cddmn6ge6e2o

Federal Judge Karin J. Immergut, a Trump appointee during his first term, blocked Trump’s activation of 200 state Guard troops, then issued a second ruling stopping the administration’s workaround—sending troops from Texas and California instead.

In a letter from my Senator, Tim Kaine, he stated that “President Trump issued an executive order directing Secretary Hegseth to establish new “specialized units” within the National Guard, explicitly trained and equipped to address “public order issues” and available for rapid nationwide deployment. While the National Guard already maintains reaction forces under the command of state governors, this order blurs the line between military support and domestic law enforcement and raises unresolved questions about chain of command, federal authority, and compliance with the Posse Comitatus Act. By creating a framework that could allow federal authorities to bypass governors and insert Guard units into local jurisdictions, the order heightens concerns that the Trump Administration is seeking to normalize the use of the military in routine public safety functions and expand such deployments beyond Washington, D.C. into other U.S. cities.”

We are surely used to Trump’s many lies, so why have I given so much space to lies about Portland? While addressing the strangely assembled Admirals and Generals at the Marine Corps Base in Quanitico on September 30, Trump suggested that his deployment of the military to American Cities could provide a training ground for our “enemies within.” These uses of our “defense” forces against our own people is unprecedented and totally against American law and practice.

President Trump said Monday that he may invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy federal troops to Portland, calling ongoing protests there a form of “criminal insurrection.” The Insurrection Act permits the federal deployment of troops in extreme cases. Surely the courts will block him.

Week after week Trump has chipped away at our constitutional protections. After each “small” step into autocracy is absorbed, he takes another. He has fired the Inspector Generals, who are meant to provide a guard rail of oversight against government abuses of power, and violated the customary autonomy of the Justice Department by instructing the Attorney General to go after his “enemies,” (not just Comey). What might be next? And where (and how) will it end?