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THREAD: The news of the pending appointment of retired Gen. Lloyd Austin as SecDef has provoked a complex reaction. Here is a thread of @monkeycageblog posts summarizing relevant security studies and civil-military research (hello spring syllabi!). 1/
To start with, the appointment would be a historic first, if not the one many were expecting. The military is in the midst of a reckoning on race; here, @jaylyall_red5 writes about why diversity in the military is important to its mission. 2/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/28/military-is-making-changes-response-black-lives-matter-protests-thats-good-fighting-wars/
But another retired general requiring a waiver to serve in civilian role has drawn criticism from civil-military scholars, esp after erosion of civilian control of the military in the Trump years. See Dec '16 @PeteWhitePolSci piece on Trump and generals 3/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/01/trump-may-put-5-former-top-military-brass-in-his-administration-thats-unprecedented/
Here is the great @RisaBrooks12 with a primer on civilian control of the military.... 4/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/02/16/what-should-u-s-military-leaders-do-if-the-president-provokes-a-major-international-crisis/
...and @RisaBrooks12 on some of the early decisions of Trump's tenure that broke civil-military rules. 5/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/03/24/trump-breaks-these-3-rules-about-how-u-s-presidents-relate-to-the-military/
Trump has politicized the military in many other ways, as @CarrieALee1 summarized in this piece from July 2020. 6/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/09/lt-col-vindmans-retirement-will-hurt-military-effectiveness-this-is-why/
See also @DoyleKHodges on Trump's interference in the Eddie Gallagher case and its implications for civilian control of the military. 5/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/22/trump-said-navy-cant-take-away-eddie-gallaghers-seal-qualification-that-could-be-problem/
There's also the issue of military endorsements, a trend that started long before Trump but @jimgolby has written about how Trump and others try to use the military for partisan political benefit. 6/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/09/trump-allegedly-disparaged-americas-war-dead-backlash-probably-wont-decide-election/
And @m_robinson771 @z_e_griffiths on the trends 7/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/28/three-things-know-about-military-endorsements-2020-campaign/
There was also civil-military damage from the 2018 deployment of troops along the southern border, as @ahfdc wrote here: 8/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/11/05/5-reasons-to-be-concerned-about-deploying-u-s-troops-along-the-southern-border/
And @dburbach @lindsaypcohn & @ProfLupton wrote about how the response to the Portland protests this summer undermined civilian control of the military. 9/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/29/whats-happening-portland-could-hurt-civilian-control-military-heres-how/?fbclid=IwAR0m0GVpKJBvE21sQ-TElvBPzfMT9JEiAypWkqI5IEkcpqNf57rmTL9DLYQ
Of course there are exceptions: @ahfdc wrote that Trump's assertion of control over the Syria pullout actually reinforced the norm of civilian control--the president has the "right to be wrong," as Peter Feaver has written. 10/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2019/01/06/trump-actually-followed-one-civil-military-norm-with-his-announcement-on-syria/
And circling back to the Mattis precedent, @m_robinson771 wrote about how Mattis' tenure and resignation further politicized the military and especially the role of retired military officers. 11/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/12/21/even-with-mattis-resigning-trump-is-still-damaging-the-militarys-credibility-as-nonpartisan/
Many more issues and too many civil-military pieces to list here (hoping a @monkeycageblog topic guide on this soon!). But these & other scholars have written lots more, all grounded in research. One takeaway: Trump did damage & SecDef appt must be seen in that light. 13/
Of course, none of this touches substance of Austin's views or alternative candidates, e.g. on confronting China or great power competition. Or what a woman would mean in this role. Or views of D's as weak on natsec. But those are for another thread. 14/14
