Kateryna Chernoval02:53, 11/14/24

In particular, Trump was targeted at representatives of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Newly elected US President Donald Trump  may be preparing mass layoffs at the Pentagon. Members of his transition team are compiling a list of officers who will be removed from their positions, Reuters writes , citing sources. 

According to the agency, this list may include members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This could be an “unprecedented upheaval” in the Pentagon.

Now the planning of “purges” in the Pentagon is at an early stage. One of the sources questioned the possibility of mass layoffs in the defense department. It is also not yet clear whether Trump himself will support this plan, although in the past he has actively opposed the leaders of the defense department who have criticized him. During the election campaign, the Republican also talked about firing, including those responsible for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2021.

A second source told the agency that the new administration is likely to focus on firing US officers believed to be linked to Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley. His claim that Trump is a “fascist to the core” was quoted in Bob Woodward’s book War. Meanwhile, Trump allies have targeted Milley for alleged disloyalty to the former president:

“Every single person that Milly promoted and appointed will go. There is a very detailed list of everyone who was associated with Milly. And they will all go.”

It is noted that the Joint Chiefs of Staff include the most senior officers of the US armed forces, who head the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, National Guard and Space Force.

The news of the plans to fire top US military leaders came a day after Trump chose Pete Hegseth, a Fox News commentator and veteran who has shown a willingness to clean up the Pentagon, as his nominee for defense secretary.

“It’s unclear whether Hegseth’s lack of management experience could make it difficult for him to be confirmed in the Senate, and whether a more traditional alternative to the job could carry out such sweeping layoffs. Hegseth also took aim at Milley’s successor, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, asking whether he would have gotten the job. position, if he were not black,” the authors add. 

The first source familiar with the transition plans told reporters that those are still the plans, but that Brown will be among the many officers who will step down:

“The heads of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and all deputy chiefs of staff will be dismissed immediately.”

Some current and former US officials downplay the possibility of such a major personnel reshuffle. In their opinion, this would be an unnecessary and destructive step at a time of global upheaval, when wars continue in Ukraine and the Middle East.

One of the sources said that it would be difficult from a bureaucratic point of view to fire and replace a significant part of the top US military leadership. It suggests that such plans may be “boasting and posturing on the part of Trump’s allies.”

But another agency source suggested that the Trump camp believes the Joint Chiefs of Staff should be cut due to “bureaucratic overreach.” And such cuts can be sustained in an organization as large as the US military.

“These people are not irreplaceable. They are very replaceable. And one more thing – there is no shortage of people to replace them. In World War II, we were very quick to appoint people who were in their 30s or people who were competent to be generals. And you know what “We have won the war,” said the interlocutor of Reuters.

(C)UNIAN 2024