89 Former Defense Dept. Officials Call Out Trump’s ‘Inflammatory’ Threat to Deploy US Military to Crack Down on Protests in WaPo Op-Ed

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A bipartisan group of former Defense Department and national security officials — including four former Defense Secretaries and one former CIA director — called out President Donald Trump’s “inflammatory language” and warned against his threat to deploy active-duty troops to crackdown on civil unrest.

In an Washington Post op-ed that included an eye-opening byline of “89 former Defense officials,” the group called out the “intensity of the president’s rhetoric” as well as his “shocking promise” from last Monday: to invoke the Insurrection Act to allow the U.S. military to be used to police the nationwide protests of George Floyd’s death.

Among the notable names signing onto the op-ed were Defense Secretaries across two decades and a pair of them were previously Republican Senators: Former Sen. Chuck Hagel (President Barack Obama), Former Sen. William Cohen (President Bill Clinton), Ashton Carter (Obama), Leon Panetta (Obama). Their criticism of Trump comes just two days after retired General and former Trump Defense Secretary James Mattis blasted Trump’s divisiveness and lack of leadership. And earlier in the week, current Defense Secretary Mark Esper publicly opposed Trump’s threat to use the U.S. military.

“President Trump continues to use inflammatory language as many Americans protest the unlawful death of George Floyd and the unjust treatment of black Americans by our justice system,” the op-ed begins. “As the protests have grown, so has the intensity of the president’s rhetoric. He has gone so far as to make a shocking promise: to send active-duty members of the U.S. military to ‘dominate’ protesters in cities throughout the country — with or without the consent of local mayors or state governors.”

The Defense officials then railed against the used of flash-bang grenades and tear gas in dispersing the peaceful protestors near the White House for a Trump photo op.

“As defense leaders who share a deep commitment to the Constitution,” the op-ed concluded. “We call on the president to immediately end his plans to send active-duty military personnel into cities as agents of law enforcement, or to employ them or any another military or police forces in ways that undermine the constitutional rights of Americans. The members of our military are always ready to serve in our nation’s defense. But they must never be used to violate the rights of those they are sworn to protect.”