April 06, 2018
Policy Roundtable: Civil-Military Relations Now and Tomorrow
The Lack of Diverse Viewpoints on Trump’s National Security Team and its Long-Term Consequences
President Donald Trump has been in office for over a year, and while many key staffers have departed and been replaced already, there are a few clear trends in his staffing decisions. First, the president has relied heavily on active-duty or retired military to fill crucial national security roles, going as far as to regularly refer to them as “my generals,” including when traveling abroad.110,111 Second, when staffing the Pentagon, he has tapped many defense industry executives to fill senior roles, against the preferences of the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain, who has threatened not to confirm them on at least two occasions, saying “we’ve had a couple, and that’s okay, but I don’t want [more of] them.”112,113 Perhaps most significantly, these selections have collectively been made to the exclusion of other, civilian, policy professionals. The Trump administration has not only eschewed individuals deemed insufficiently loyal during Trump’s campaign, but also those who, even privately, do not wholly endorse all of the administration’s policy predilections.114
Read the full article at TNSR
More from CNAS
-
Preserving U.S. Military Advantage Amid Rapid Technological Change
We live in a period of tremendous technological change. This disruption creates opportunities for the United States but also for our adversaries. To sustain its battlefield ad...
By Paul Scharre
-
The history and evolution of drones and their use in modern warfare
Stacie Pettyjohn joins BBC Newshour to discuss how drones continue to shape and change the modern battlefield. Listen to the full episode and more from BBC Newshour....
By Stacie Pettyjohn
-
Drones Are Transforming the Battlefield in Ukraine but in an Evolutionary Fashion
Thus far in Ukraine, drone warfare has been an evolution, not a revolution....
By Stacie Pettyjohn
-
Networked deterrence in a multipolar Indo-Pacific
For integrated deterrence to succeed in the Indo-Pacific, the United States needs to bolster both deterrence by denial and resilience by working with allies and partners....
By Becca Wasser