Appeal to the Congress from Former Secretaries of Defense

February 27th, 2025

We are deeply alarmed by President Trump's recent dismissals of several senior U.S. military leaders. We write to urge the U.S. Congress to hold Mr. Trump to account for these reckless actions and to exercise fully its Constitutional oversight responsibilities.

The President offered no justification for his actions, even though he had nominated these officers for previous positions and the Senate had approved them. These officers' exemplary operational and combat experience, as well as the coming dismissals of the Judge Advocates General of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, make clear that none of this was about warfighting.

Mr. Trump's dismissals raise troubling questions about the administration's desire to politicize the military and to remove legal constraints on the President's power. We, like many Americans -- including many troops -- are therefore left to conclude that these leaders are being fired for purely partisan reasons.

As former Secretaries of Defense, we call on both the House and the Senate to hold immediate hearings to assess the national security implications of Mr. Trump's dismissals. The House and Senate should demand that the administration justify each firing and fully explain why it violated Congress' legislative intent that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff complete a four-year term in office. General C.Q. Brown Jr. had not yet completed two years in the job. In the meantime, Senators should refuse to confirm any new Defense Department nominations, including that of retired Lt. General Dan Caine as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

President Trump's actions undermine our all-volunteer force and weaken our national security. Talented Americans may be far less likely to choose a life of military service if they believe they will be held to a political standard. Those currently serving may grow cautious of speaking truth to power or they could erode good order and discipline by taking political actions in uniform. And the public's traditionally high trust in the armed forces could begin to wither.

The United States cannot afford to have our military infected by partisan politics and distracted from its core mission of defending the nation. As George Washington warned Alexander Hamilton in 1783, after Hamilton had pressed military officers to insert themselves into domestic politics, “The Army is adangerous instrument to play with."

We're not asking members of Congress to do us a favor; we're asking them to do their jobs. We're urging them to take George Washington's warning to heart.

William J. Perry
Secretary of Defense 1994-1997

Leon E. Panetta
Secretary of Defense 2011-2013

Chuck Hagel
Secretary of Defense 2013-2015

James N. Mattis
Secretary of Defense 2017-2019

Lloyd J. Austin III
Secretary of Defense 2021-2025

Source:
https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/f3e4e7c6bdf1f579/d251cb42-full.pdf

Reproduced here for completeness, posterity, linking, updating, and research purposes.