“My reservations with Mr. Patel stem from his own prior political activities and how they may influence his leadership,” Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said in a post on X. Ms. Murkowski voted against his appointment, saying, “The F.B.I. must be trusted as the federal agency that roots out crime and corruption, not focused on settling political scores.”
Congress intentionally established the term of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs to extend across presidential administrations for similar reasons as well as to preserve institutional knowledge. Now, Mr. Trump has tapped Dan Caine, a retired Air Force lieutenant general, to lead the Joint Chiefs. Mr. Caine is an unusual choice, not only because he is retired and for his rank, which is lower than his predecessors, but also for the support Mr. Trump has ascribed to him in past political speeches. “‘I love you, sir. I think you’re great, sir. I’ll kill for you, sir,’” Mr. Trump has said General Caine told him.
As General Brown was being dismissed, Mr. Hegseth also acted to replace the military’s judge advocates general — the top lawyers for the Air Force, Navy and Army — as well as the first woman to lead the Navy and the vice chief of staff of the Air Force. As Rosa Brooks, a professor at Georgetown Law and national security expert, wrote on X, “It’s what you do when you’re planning to break the law: You get rid of any lawyers who might try to slow you down.”
This move was similar to Mr. Trump’s dismissals of inspectors general at several executive departments, and that of the heads of the Office of Government Ethics and the Office of Special Counsel, the agency that investigates whistle-blower complaints. Having learned from impediments during his first term, the president is moving quickly to silence any lawyers or executive branch officials who might object to his plans, which frequently exceed the boundaries of constitutional law and practice.
Mr. Trump has the right to choose the advisers with whom he surrounds himself. With each of these selections, however, the president is putting loyalty and the expectation of fealty ahead of expertise, merit and a clear record of sound, independent judgment on issues related to the agencies that they lead. The American people have no reason to be confident that these agency leaders are working in their interests rather than in the president’s interests. -The result is a leadership caste that mirrors Mr. Trump’s worldview, to the detriment of broader democratic interests.
