Is there anybody serious left in the U.S. military? From Seymour Hersh at seymourhersh.substack.com:
A hearing for the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff exposes a bipartisan consensus: culture war is a higher priority than debate about the war in Ukraine
Air Force General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., testifies during his July 11 Senate confirmation hearing. Brown has been nominated to serve as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. / Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.
Every quote you read in this story can be found in the Senate Armed Services transcript of its hearing on July 11 to consider the nomination of Air Force General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., an esteemed fighter pilot, to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is the first African American to lead a branch of the US Armed Forces, and America has only previously had one black JCS chairman—Colin Powell, who served under President George H.W. Bush—although untold thousands of African Americans have been killed and wounded while fighting for the flag.
Brown’s appointment and the hearing are important because his two predecessors, both four-star generals, were, in their finest moments—I can’t recall more than a handful—little more than mediocre. Confidence in the US Armed Forces plummeted during their chairmanships, as seen in the now chronic inability of most of the services to meet recruiting needs.
There were moments when serious questions were raised and worthy responses made, but those came before the formal hearings, when the professional staff of the Senate committee threw more than 300 written questions to the incoming JCS chairman. Question 54 provides a good sense of the sophisticated tone of most of the queries: “In your view, does the 2022 NDS [National Defense Strategy] accurately assess the current strategic environment, including prioritization among the most critical and enduring threats to the national security of the United States and its allies? Please explain your answer.”
