Opinion | Austin’s dereliction of duty weakened the chain of command


In 2002, my boss at the time, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, became concerned that the National Security Council was providing direct orders, mandates, and guidance to U.S. combatant commanders in the field. That power belonged only to President George W. Bush and was given only to President Rumsfeld and uniformed police officers. So he sent one of his famous “snowflakes” – short memos dictated to staff and colleagues – to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

“You and the NSC staff need to understand that you are not in the chain of command,” Rumsfeld wrote. “Since you can’t seem to accept that fact, my only options are to go to the president and tell him to stop, or to tell anyone at the Pentagon not to respond to you or the NSC staff. ” I decided to take the latter course. If that fails, you have to go to the president. In any case, it will stop as long as I am Secretary of Defense. thank you. “

This is not a matter of preference. It was a matter of law. This legislation takes into account Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s failure to inform the White House, Congress, or his own representatives that he was hospitalized and incapacitated during a forced march by U.S. forces. has started to attract attention once again. Attacks against Iranian-backed militias amid ongoing attacks in Iraq, Syria and the Red Sea.

In 1986, Congress passed the Goldwater-Nichols Act, a fundamental reorganization of the military structure that stated: Secretary of Defense. (2) From the Secretary of Defense to the Combatant Commander. ”

Former National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley explained the background to the Rumsfeld memo in a 2011 interview for the University of Virginia’s Oral History Project.bush “There’s a tendency to say, ‘I decided I should call Gates,’ or ‘I decided I should call Rumsfeld,’ and I’d say, ‘I decided I should call Mr. Gates.'” Mr. President, I’ve decided that I should call Mr. Gates. ,” Hadley said. “There’s a phone there, right? If you pick it up and hit the third line, Don Rumsfeld will appear. If someone else tries to pass on an order from the president, Rumsfeld will tell them they’re up the chain of command.” And I vividly remember him instructing his staff that he and Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz “not leave Washington, D.C., at the same time.” There is. One of us is always in the city to maintain the chain of command. ”

Austin is supposed to know everything about the chain of command. As Rumsfeld wrote in his book Rumsfeld’s Rules, “In every case, those in senior positions of leadership have worked their way up from lower ranks. All of them were once junior officers with a gold bar on their collars.” Some of them served as second lieutenants, running orders down the chain of command before taking over the president’s orders as civilian leaders of the Pentagon. This includes Austin, who eventually became a four-star general.

While he was incapacitated this month, the U.S. military carried out airstrikes on Baghdad, killing a senior Iranian-backed militia leader. I asked White House Press Secretary John Kirby how the order would have been issued if Austin had been in intensive care since January 1st. Kirby responded that the president gave Austin the order on Christmas Day (he leaves it up to him to decide when to pull the trigger). combat commander).

The answer deserves consideration by Congress. And that doesn’t excuse Austin for not revealing his incompetence to the president, the national security adviser, and Congress. Austin did not even transfer responsibilities up the chain of command to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico until January 2, when he said that he was “not responsible for certain operations that require secure communication capabilities at all times.” It was simply a transfer of “superior responsibilities.”

What if something goes wrong? What if Iran retaliates and we need to make a quick decision about how to respond? Even if the president says, “Get the secretary of defense.” What would happen if no one in the White House knew where the president was? It doesn’t speak well of President Biden’s relationship with the Secretary of Defense at a time when there are daily attacks on the U.S. military and America’s partners. And the Allies are fighting a major war on two continents with the support of the US military.

As Rumsfeld explained, the chain of command exists because it allows our military to “know from whom they must take orders and from whom they must give orders. ” There can be no accountability where there is no continuity. ” Austin’s failure to disclose his illness was a dereliction of duty on his part, and now he must be held accountable.



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