On the afternoon of November 25, local time, Pentagon White House liaison Joshua Whitehouse ordered the removal of 11 high-profile advisers from the Defense Policy Board, effective immediately.
Three former and current U.S. officials told Foreign Policy that the 11 advisers include former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, retired Admiral Gary Loughrhead, who served as Secretary of Naval Operations, and former Secretary of the Navy John Kerry. (Roughead), Jane Harman, a former senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, and Rudy De Leon, a former Pentagon chief operating officer.
Also removed were former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and George W. Bush-era Deputy Treasury Secretary David McCormick, both of whom were recruited to the committee by former Defense Secretary James Mattis in 2017.
In addition, Jamie Gorelick, Deputy Attorney General under Clinton, Robert Joseph, Chief Nuclear Negotiator, J.D. Crouch II, Deputy National Security Advisor under Bush, and Franklin Miller, a former senior Defense Department official ( (Franklin Miller) was also fired.
The Department of Defense confirmed the decision in a statement late Wednesday (25) evening. A Defense Department official said, “As part of a long-considered change, we can confirm that several members of the Department’s Defense Policy Board have been replaced. We are grateful for their dedicated service, commitment, and contributions to national security. The new members of the Board will be announced soon.”
As an internal think tank, the Defense Policy Board is overseen by the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and provides independent advice and counsel on defense policy. Committee members include former senior military officials, secretaries of state, members of Congress, and other senior diplomats and foreign policy experts.
The status of the other two commission members is unknown at this time, and the names of the new replacement members have not yet been announced.
Officials interviewed told Foreign Policy that the Trump administration had been seeking to reorganize the commission to replace members of the Washington establishment, but that the plan was opposed by then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and acting Deputy Secretary of Defense James Anderson.
On November 9, Trump announced Esper’s firing. Esper and Trump had disagreed on a number of decisions this year, including the withdrawal of U.S. troops from key overseas bases, the beheading of Suleimani, and the use of active-duty troops to quell domestic Antifa looting and destruction.
On November 10, the Pentagon confirmed the resignations of three more senior policy and intelligence officials: Deputy Defense Secretary for Intelligence and Security Joseph Kernan, Acting Deputy Defense Secretary for Policy James Anderson, and Esper’s Chief of Staff Jen Stewart.
The White House is reportedly seeking to make former Air Force fighter pilot Scott O’Grady and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich new members of the Defense Policy Board.
Recent Comments