TRUMP FAVOURING MILITARY MINDS

Retired generals interviewed for top posts

WASHINGTON• Two months before Inauguration Day festivities, an extraordinary number of recently retired generals, including some who clashed with U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, are marching to president-elect Donald Trump’s doorstep for job interviews.

It’s not unusual for an incoming administration to consider a retired general for a top position like CIA director. But Trump has turned to retired officers in such large numbers that it raises questions about the balance of military and civilian advice in a White House led by a commander in chief with no defence or foreign policy experience.

The tilt toward military officials may reflect a limited pool of civilian options. Many officials from previous Republican administrations politically disowned Trump during the campaign, calling him unqualified. And Trump suggested he wouldn’t want many of them, as he vowed to “drain the swamp” by running establishment figures out of town.

Robert Goldich, a retired government defence analyst who has watched administrations for 44 years, says Trump’s focus on retired generals might be unprecedented.

The only one announced for a top job thus far is Michael Flynn, a retired threestar army general. Trump appointed Flynn as his national security adviser, a post that does not require Senate confirmation. Flynn was forced out as Defense Intelligence Agency director in 2014. Afterward, he strongly criticized the Obama administration’s approach to fighting Islamic State and threw his support to Trump.

Among others under consideration are two retired four-star marine generals — James Mattis for defence secretary and John Kelly for Homeland Security secretary. Other names surfacing include retired army general Jack Keane and David Petraeus, the retired four-star general who was Obama’s CIA director in 2011 and 2012 before resigning amid disclosure that he had an affair with his biographer and shared highly classified information with her.