The General and Political Speech

By James R. Stewart

Yet again, a remarkable thing happened last week which has not garnered even a yawn from the mainstream media. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave an interview with Fox News on 22 August and discussed his "disappointment" with the critique of the Obama administration by the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund (OPSEC). In an amazing contortion -- even for one who has spent many years in the upper levels of the Pentagon -- he claims that as the steward of the military profession, he is critical of former service members for "using the uniform, whatever uniform, for partisan politics" while giving the referenced interview in uniform. He continues by complaining about OPSEC by claiming that their effort to educate the public regarding the sensitive nature of national intelligence information is "not useful. It's not useful to me." Frankly, it is General Dempsey's statement which is not useful. The issues raised by OPSEC aren't about General Dempsey or what is useful to him; they are about.... (Read Full Article)