The longer your compound capital, the less you need luck and the more you need Shrewdness.
- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 8
So why might Secretary Hegseth do such an extraordinary thing? Only four solutions to the puzzle come to mind.
He has some trivial thing to say and does not understand the risks.
He wishes to endanger the lives of the generals and admirals.
He will stage a purge, perhaps involving a loyalty oath or something similar that requires personal presence.
He will tell the commanders that henceforth their assignment will be to oppress American citizens (“homeland defense”). This could be combined with the third scenario: those who refuse will be fired.
Perhaps others can think of other possibilities, but I am afraid that I cannot.
One might wonder why no effort was made to keep this secret. Perhaps Hegseth wants the senior officers to worry. Perhaps the news was shared because reasonable people in the Pentagon fear that the meeting is part of a plan to remake the American military as a domestic political police force. This would be in conjunction with other efforts, such as yesterday’s terror memo, to pursue regime change in the United States. Making known that there will be such a meeting is the one way to begin a conversation that might prevent its taking place, or at least alter its purpose.
——Timothy Snyder
No. of Recommendations: 11
He has some trivial thing to say and does not understand the risks.
Hanlon's razor suggests that this is the likely reason.
Not necessarily that the "thing" he wants to talk about is trivial. It might be something rather significant. But I think it's incredibly likely that Hegseth, who has no real experience in military command, simply is unaware that this kind of gathering of the entire top echelon of the military is simply unprecedented. And based on his past behavior in the role (and the attitude of the Administration more broadly), he's not likely to be very receptive to arguments from his underlings about why precedent should be observed.
No. of Recommendations: 8
In The Bulwark, Mark Hertling, who was commander of U.S. Army Europe from 2011 to 2012, noted that the demand “is baffling and the cost will be staggering.” Instead of using the Pentagon’s secure video teleconferencing system, the personnel will require flights and accommodations that will cost millions, while the lost focus and readiness will affect their mission.
Hertling points out that “[a]dversaries and allies are watching. This sudden, global, emergency recall of America’s top brass is a flashing red light to them: Something must be wrong inside the Pentagon.”
Both Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance tried to downplay the meeting. “Why is that such a big deal?” Trump asked reporters. Vance incorrectly said the meeting is “not particularly unusual,” and said: “I think it’s odd that you guys have made it into such a big story.”
No. of Recommendations: 2
a plan to remake the American military as a domestic political police force.
Trump singed an EO, maybe a month ago, to draw people from the National Guard, to be specially trained and equipped for suppressing the domestic, civilian, population...aka "Brown Shirts".
This must be something else. He has said before, he wants to cut the officer corps by 10 or 20%. Based on the command level people he has already purged, I'm expecting a purge of those who are not all in on the Christian nationalist/white supremacist narrative, tho he probably will not call it "Christian nationalist". Probably more like "traditional American values".
Steve...HBTT
No. of Recommendations: 0
He will tell the commanders that henceforth their assignment will be to oppress American citizens (“homeland defense”). This could be combined with the third scenario: those who refuse will be fired.
Possibly to declare select state governments -California, New York, Illinois, etc- as hostile to American interests, thus necessitating major military actions to purge said state governments, instituting martial law until new governments can be installed.
