Democracy, Populism, & Domestic Politics, Power & Security Trump Puts Pentagon in Political Crossfire With Tata Appointment

Perry World House Visiting Fellow Derek Chollet and Director of Communications and Research John Gans are both cited in this piece on a controversial new appointment to a senior Department of Defense post.

In making an end run around Congress to appoint Anthony J. Tata, a retired brigadier general with a history of Islamophobic and other inflammatory views, to a top Defense Department post, President Trump has once again put the military exactly where it does not want to be: in the middle of a political battle that could hurt bipartisan support for the Pentagon...

“This is only going to exacerbate civil-military tensions and is an added insult to the policy team in the Pentagon, which has already been hollowed out,” said Derek Chollet, a former assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration. “And the idea of having a voice like his at the highest levels of the Pentagon during a moment of such tension and turmoil, both of which will only get worse in the coming months, is very alarming.”...

“At a moment when the Defense Department is warning about the dangers of politicization and trying to keep its personnel out of the 2020 presidential campaign, Tata’s appointment demonstrates that apolitical orders only mean so much,” said John Gans, a Pentagon speechwriter for former Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter. “Tata’s blowtorch tweets set a horrible example and precedent with three months to go in a contentious campaign.”

Read more in The New York Times >>