I wonder if there was something that Hegseth and Trump overlooked in this gathering of our highest military officers.

By bringing them together, it gave them the opportunity to speak with each other face to face outside of the meeting room. Same for their staff personnel who made the trip.

They could talk off the record and privately, with no record of those conversations. They could trade notes on the event and do a bit of war gaming of various scenarios that won’t be in the more formalized training.

Things like: what orders would you consider to be illegal and refuse? How would you refuse? Would you resign or identify the order as illegal and remain in your post? Who in your staff and direct reports might follow an illegal order? What communications channels can we use? Can we trade some code words or phrases?

This could easily be an event that strengthens the senior military leadership’s resolve to follow the law and not civilian leadership when illegal orders come down.

—Peter <== possibly engaging in a little looking through rose colored glasses.