Jack Keane Defends Gen. Milley: Nothing He Did Was ‘Undermining the Civilian Control of the Military’

Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane came to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley’s defense on Wednesday, saying he believed Milley’s actions were being “sensationalized.”

“He was essentially trying to provide assurance,” Keane said of Milley’s purported phone calls to People’s Liberation Army Gen. Li Zuocheng in October and January. He noted that Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who was Milley’s boss at the time of the first call, “had the same concern,” and “asked his policy people to get involved and talking to their counterparts.”

“I think these are responsible actions that are being taken,” Keane said. “I don’t see anything that is undermining the civilian control of the military. If you took the facts that are, I think, being sensationalized in this report, that would be an issue, as you just regurgitated here. But that is not what the Pentagon is reporting.”

Milley called Zuocheng to reassure him that he would prevent then-President Donald Trump from attacking China, or that he would warn Zuocheng of an assault in the event he failed, after Chinese intelligence led the country’s government to believe an attack was imminent. Officials said Esper approved of the first call, though Trump replaced him in November with Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller. The latter said Wednesday he believed the law “prohibited” Milley from making such assurances.

Keane, a retired four-star general, played an oversight role in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq before resigning from his position in 2003.

Watch above via Fox News.