House panel votes to make it harder for retired generals to run the Pentagon

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The House Armed Services Committee has voted to make it more difficult for a retired senior military officer to become secretary of defense, in a sign that Washington wants to reduce its reliance on former generals running the Pentagon.

The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which was adopted by voice vote late Wednesday and fully passed by the committee Thursday morning, would extend the period that retired officers must be out of uniform from seven to 10 years before becoming defense chief. The provision also stipulates that the requirement can be waived only if three-fourths of both chambers of Congress, or a super majority, approve. Right now, lawmakers can grant a waiver through a simple majority.

The proposal still needs to be adopted by the House and Senate, but it sends a clear signal that Republicans and Democrats believe that having two retired four-stars run the Pentagon in close succession — first Jim Mattis and now Lloyd Austin — went too far.

Both needed a congressional waiver to be confirmed because they had not been out of uniform the required seven years.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/house-panel-votes-to-make-it-harder-for-retired-generals-to-run-the-pentagon/ar-AAO2lKo

[brush]

1. Who else should it be...considering experience and all?

[redstatebluegirl]

2. I agree, I don't get it. A retired General seems perfectly suited to that job.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. Guess I'd rather have a retired general than a defense contractor CEO at the helm

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Not Me

You & I agree about most things, but not this.
While I agree that I don't want the CEO of Raytheon running DoD, that job requires as much or more civilian interaction as military.
There are still active duty generals, so the SecDef doesn't need to have intimate operational details of military function.
They need to be an organizational whiz that a points the right people to liaison with the military. Those people being retired military seems wise, I suppose.
I don't think generals necessarily know all the intelligence apparatus, the contractor relationships, and details of every contractor project.
So, in that regard they'd be no better than a successful executive in that role.
I don't have a problem overall, but I think the waiting period of 10 years is appropriate.
That said, there's already a waiver protocol. Not sure adding 3 years to the requirement changes much.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Civilian control of the military is a basic doctrine crucial to a democracy.

We don't want a situation where professional military officers control national politics or control the nation.

[brush]

6. Austin's appointment was held up because he hadn't been...

out of the military for the required seven years. A waiver was made for him to become Secretary of Defense after four years of retirement.

I bring that up to say that retired military men/women become US citizens, just as the rest of us but with pertinent and important experience. But the President has, and always will be the Commander-in-Chief.

[Jose Garcia]

5. This limitation can be easily repealed by a majority of both houses of Congress