Obama Admin Seeks Rule Change in Order to Appoint Outside Candidates to High-Ranking Military Roles


Obama may be in the last few months of his presidency, but it looks as if he’s doing everything in his power to force his leftist agenda on the next presidency as well. His latest apparent power-grab is being facilitated by Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter wants to open the door for more “lateral entry” into the military’s upper ranks, clearing the way for lifelong civilians with vital skills and strong résumés to enter the officer corps as high as the O-6 paygrade.

The idea is controversial, to say the very least. For many in the rank-and-file military, it seems absurd, a bewildering cultural change that threatens to upend many assumptions about military life and traditional career paths. But while it’s not universally embraced, there is interest in Congress and among some of the military’s uniformed leaders — even, they say, in exploring how the services could apply this concept to the enlisted force.

This is a key piece of Carter’s “Force of the Future” personnel reform. Unveiled June 9, it aims to help the military bring in more top talent, especially for high-tech career fields focused on cyber warfare and space. Advocates say it will help the military fill important manpower shortfalls with highly skilled professionals and, more broadly, create greater “permeability” between the active-duty military and the civilian sector.

At the same time, it suggests eroding the military’s tradition of growing its own leaders and cultivating a force with a distinct culture and tight social fabric, which many believe to be the heart of military effectiveness. Critics worry it will create a new subcaste of military service members who are fundamentally disconnected from the traditional career force.

“They will enter a culture they don’t know, understand or potentially appreciate,” said Dakota Wood, a retired Marine officer and military expert at the Heritage Foundation. “The Marines around them will likely be challenged to appreciate them as they would a fellow Marine.”

Obama has fired hundreds of high ranking military commanders over the years. Now he seeks to appoint civilians to these top level military positions. Obama’s desire to appoint an increasing number of Muslims in high-level military roles is well-documented, and now it looks as if he has a way to make it happen in a major way.

Source: Military Times

Photo: Military Times



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