Admiral James Stavridis (ret.) writes:

The demonstrations set off by the death of George Floyd are creating remarkable crosscurrents in American society, from new ideas about police reform to an increased focus on the disparate health and economic damage African-Americans have suffered from Covid-19. There is increasing turmoil in terms of the use of the military as well.

A number of retired generals and admirals have spoken out with alarm over the last week about adding active-duty military to law enforcement, and using the Insurrection Act to do so. The appearance of National Guard troops to make the area around the White House safe for a presidential photo-op was very troubling as well.

The consistency of the commentary across the four-star retired community was remarkable. I’ve never seen such unanimity on any issue, particularly on what is essentially a domestic situation. Many recently retired officers who have been reticent to speak publicly were suddenly very vocal. This group included retired Marine Corps Generals Jim Mattis and John Kelly, who served, respectively, as secretary of defense and White House chief of staff under President Donald Trump.

On Sunday, Colin Powell, the former Joint Chiefs chairman and secretary of state, called out Republican lawmakers for having “nothing to say” about Trump’s militarization of protest security. [Continue reading…]