Former Joint Chiefs chairman: Retired generals shouldn't speak at political conventions

Retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is arguing that retired general officers should not endorse political candidates.

In a letter to the Washington Post, Dempsey wrote that retired Marine Gen. John Allen and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn crossed the line by speaking at the Democratic and Republican conventions, respectively.

Dempsey took issue with Allen and Flynn being introduced at the political conventions as general officers, not private citizens.
“As generals, they have an obligation to uphold our apolitical traditions,” Dempsey wrote. “They have just made the task of their successors — who continue to serve in uniform and are accountable for our security — more complicated. It was a mistake for them to participate as they did. It was a mistake for our presidential candidates to ask them to do so.”

Both service members and the general public should not have to wonder what senior military leaders’ political motivations are, Dempsey wrote.

“The military is not a political prize,” he wrote. “Politicians should take the advice of senior military leaders but keep them off the stage.”

On ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos asked Allen about Dempsey’s argument.

“Marty Dempsey is one of the greatest soldiers I’ve ever known and a dear friend and I understand completely what he’s saying,” Allen replied. “But I’ve agonized over this decision over and over again."
Allen said he is worried about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s comments about how he might use the U.S. military and he feels Trump has insulted the military by saying it can’t win anymore.

“I decried these comments that put us on a potential track for a civil-military crisis, the likes of which we have never seen in this country,” Allen said. “That was the reason I came off the bench. I don’t intend to stay out there to be politically active. I intend to return to my previous activities.”
However, two retired general officers told Military Times on Sunday that they believe Dempsey is correct.

In 2002, Marine Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, who was rumored to be considered a candidate to become the next Marine Corps commandant, requested retirement because he objected to the upcoming Iraq War.

“While military leaders almost always should follow the prescription of 'counsel in private, praise in public,' there are occasionally and rarely instances, where intelligence used to justify conflict is manipulated or judgments on the use of force are so flawed that an experienced military leader must (as we say) speak truth to power,” Newbold told Military Times in September 2014.

But when asked on Sunday about Dempsey’s letter, Newbold replied simply: “I agree with General Dempsey. Strongly.”
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales advised political candidates but never publicly advocated for them, he said.

“I don’t think Marty [Dempsey] had any problem at all with people advising,” Scales told Military Times on Sunday. “I think his problem is a large public display advocacy, particularly for a recently retired general.”

Scales’ father, who retired as an Army colonel, held very traditional views about how the U.S. military should be apolitical. Every election day he would give his children the same speech explaining why he refused to vote as a professional officer.
“He’d said the Army is the only institution that could destroy our democracy in a day,” Scales said. “He said we’re the only Western power that’s never been ruled by the military.”

But over the last 30 years, the longstanding tradition of the military being separate from politics has eroded to the point where it barely exists anymore, Scales said.
Dempsey’s may give pause to retired general officers who want to endorse political candidates, but “the battle over this has just begun,” said Richard Kohn, who teaches military history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kohn has repeatedly said he believes generals and admirals cannot resign if they disagree with an administration and they should not endorse political candidates when they are out of uniform.

He feels a debate is about to begin about where retired general and flag officers’ professional obligation to remain apolitical ends and where their First Amendment free speech rights begin.

“There will be a lot of diversity in the discussion, but remember that the overwhelming majority of retired flags, even at the highest ranks, have refrained from endorsing presidential candidates and particularly appearing a national nominating conventions, perhaps the most partisan institutions in our political system,” Kohn said.

“I’m guessing, based on how few have endorsed to this moment in time, that very few are attracted to either candidate and will want to endorse. More will want to champion their ‘right’ to speak out.”