Posted on Jul 26, 2019
The U.S. Military Is Increasingly Politicized. Active-Duty Personnel Need to Prepare.
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Young Military Professionals must work to understand political leaders and the pressures they face, and the military should actively encourage their young leaders to do so. The active-duty military must always stay apolitical, but adherence to that norm does not mean service-members should stay willfully blind to political realities. A working knowledge of the political environment will help service-members recognize when their mission is being exploited by a partisan agenda, and later in their careers it will help them separate partisan rhetoric from their decision-making processes on military matters. This distinction could prove vital to the future military’s non-partisanship.
Furthermore, admirals and generals, especially those who interact with civilian policymakers, need sharp political awareness every day – and the U.S. military cannot expect its senior leaders to suddenly develop that awareness when they reach the upper echelons. Military leaders aren’t politicians and, in a world where politicians respected civil-military norms, deep political fluency would not be a prerequisite for military leadership. But if norms against politicization continue to erode, future admirals and generals will need to be considerably more politically knowledgeable and agile if they are to have any chance of preserving the military’s non-partisan ethos.
Finally, young military leaders should immerse themselves in the long history of U.S. civil-military relations. This background knowledge will help guard against the tendency to view every moment of tension in the contemporary political environment as an existential crisis for their profession. The U.S. military has in fact been deeply politicized before, and recovered. The United States has maintained a relatively powerful standing military for hundreds of years while mostly keeping safe from the unhealthy, undemocratic dynamics that characterize coups and juntas in other nations.
Yet, as every investor knows, “past success is no guarantee of future performance.” Military and civilian leaders alike should work to foster a sense of respect for the unique stability of civil-military relations – gratitude for our history with a dose of urgency to preserve those norms for the future. Remembering the successes and failures of history will help the next generation of military leaders uphold their end of the complex civil-military bargain when called upon.
Furthermore, admirals and generals, especially those who interact with civilian policymakers, need sharp political awareness every day – and the U.S. military cannot expect its senior leaders to suddenly develop that awareness when they reach the upper echelons. Military leaders aren’t politicians and, in a world where politicians respected civil-military norms, deep political fluency would not be a prerequisite for military leadership. But if norms against politicization continue to erode, future admirals and generals will need to be considerably more politically knowledgeable and agile if they are to have any chance of preserving the military’s non-partisan ethos.
Finally, young military leaders should immerse themselves in the long history of U.S. civil-military relations. This background knowledge will help guard against the tendency to view every moment of tension in the contemporary political environment as an existential crisis for their profession. The U.S. military has in fact been deeply politicized before, and recovered. The United States has maintained a relatively powerful standing military for hundreds of years while mostly keeping safe from the unhealthy, undemocratic dynamics that characterize coups and juntas in other nations.
Yet, as every investor knows, “past success is no guarantee of future performance.” Military and civilian leaders alike should work to foster a sense of respect for the unique stability of civil-military relations – gratitude for our history with a dose of urgency to preserve those norms for the future. Remembering the successes and failures of history will help the next generation of military leaders uphold their end of the complex civil-military bargain when called upon.
The U.S. Military Is Increasingly Politicized. Active-Duty Personnel Need to Prepare.
Posted from justsecurity.org
Civilians
Republicans
Democrats
Professionalism
Ethics
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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History has already proven that the "non-partisan" tradition of American military service has its limits. Many, if not most of the generals in the CSA were serving, or former officers of the U.S. Army. The president of the CSA was not only a former military officer...but a former Secretary of War and congressman. From "Stonewall" Jackson, to Robert E. Lee (who was actually offered command of the Federal forces at one point)...each of these educated, reasonably politically astute men rationalized ethical, and even patriotic exemptions when confronted with competing loyalties.
The real admonition, to my mind, is for the civil government (regardless of party) to never forget the fragility of our republic, or to imagine that each man and woman of the Armed Forces is not an individual with their own complex fabric of values woven from regional, cultural, spiritual, and practical experiences.
When "they", the Government, politicize the task of defense, either by using the Military as a "laboratory" for social experimentation...or imposing expectations containing political agendas...they strain that fragility.
The responsibility lies equally with the elected government... to limit their actions to those permitted by the Constitution we are sworn to protect.
The real admonition, to my mind, is for the civil government (regardless of party) to never forget the fragility of our republic, or to imagine that each man and woman of the Armed Forces is not an individual with their own complex fabric of values woven from regional, cultural, spiritual, and practical experiences.
When "they", the Government, politicize the task of defense, either by using the Military as a "laboratory" for social experimentation...or imposing expectations containing political agendas...they strain that fragility.
The responsibility lies equally with the elected government... to limit their actions to those permitted by the Constitution we are sworn to protect.
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We're always taught to ensure when we make a decision that we are legally, morally, and ethically correct. We also have those who are starting to question every order they receive instead of doing what their told. It drives me crazy when a SPC asks why we're doing something.
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