Trump picks Milley to be next top military adviser
Barr ‘AG’, Nauert ‘UN envoy’
WASHINGTON, Dec 8, (Agencies): President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he’s picked a battlehardened commander who oversaw troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to be the nation’s next top military adviser.
If confirmed by the Senate, Gen Mark Milley, who has been chief of the Army since August 2015, would succeed Marine Gen Joseph Dunford as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dunford’s term doesn’t end until Oct 1. Trump said the date of transition is yet to be determined.
Trump tweeted the announcement, saying “I am pleased to announce my nomination of four-star General Mark Milley, Chief of Staff of the United States Army - as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, replacing General Joe Dunford, who will be retiring. I am thankful to both of these incredible men for their service to our Country!”
Dunford is a former commandant of the Marine Corps and commander of coalition troops in Afghanistan. Milley commanded troops during several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Trump’s decision, which he announced before leaving Washington to attend the annual Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, caught some in the Pentagon by surprise on Friday. Normally an announcement on a new chairman wouldn’t be expected until early next year.
The officials said the Air Force chief, Gen David Goldfein, was also a strong contender for the job, but they indicated that Milley has a very good relationship with the president.
Trump hinted earlier Friday that he would make an announcement on Saturday, when he attends the game and is expected to perform the coin toss to decide which team gets the ball first. “I can give you a little hint: It will have to do with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and succession,” he said.
Milley is known as a charismatic, outgoing leader who has not been afraid to offer candid and sometimes blunt assessments to Congress. Last year he admonished the House Armed Services Committee for its inability to approve a defense budget, slamming it as “professional malpractice.” And in 2016, he told lawmakers, in answer to a direct question, that women should also have to register for the draft now that they are allowed to serve in all combat jobs.
Leader
As the Army’s top leader, he helped shepherd the groundbreaking move of women into front-line infantry and other combat positions, while warning that it would take time to do it right. More recently, he has worked with his senior officers to reverse a shortfall in Army recruiting when the service fell far short of its annual goal this year.
He also played a role in one of the Army’s more contentious criminal cases. While serving as head of US Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Milley was assigned to review the case of former Army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, who abandoned his post in Afghanistan and was held captive by the Taliban for five years.
Milley made the early decision to charge Bergdahl with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. Bergdahl was eventually found guilty, reduced in rank to private, dishonorably discharged and fined $10,000, but was spared any additional prison time.
A native of Winchester, Massachusetts, and a fervent supporter of the Boston Red Sox and other city teams, Milley received his Army commission from Princeton University in 1980. An infantry officer by training, he also commanded Special Forces units in a career that included deployments in the invasion of Panama in 1989, the multinational mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina to implement the Dayton Peace Accords, and the Iraq war.
The Milley move starts a series of military leadership changes in coming months, including successors in 2019 for Adm. John Richardson as the chief of Naval Operations, Gen Robert Neller as commandant of the Marine Corps, and Air Force Gen Paul Selva as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Trump also will pick a replacement for Milley as Army chief.
Goldfein began his term as Air Force chief of staff in 2016, so wouldn’t be expected to step down until the summer of 2020.
In another senior staff shake-up inside his often turbulent administration, US President Donald Trump said on Friday he has picked the two people he wants to be the next US attorney general and the next US ambassador to the United Nations.
Justice
He said he will nominate William Barr, who was attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush in the 1990s, to fill that top job again at the US Justice Department.
Barr would replace Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, who has been in that position since Trump forced out Jeff Sessions as attorney general a month ago.
Trump said he will put forward State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert as ambassador to the United Nations. Nauert, a former Fox News Channel host, would replace Nikki Haley, who said in October she would resign at the end of this year.
Both are likely to face tough questions at their Senate confirmation hearings. Democrats called Nauert unqualified and said they were concerned about Barr’s independence.
Republicans said they were pleased with both nominees.
The proposed changes come as the Republican president faces another difficult stretch.
Democrats are promising aggressive oversight of Trump’s administration and business activities when they take control of the US House of Representatives in January following their gains in last month’s elections.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is continuing to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, any collusion between Moscow and Trump’s campaign and possible obstruction of justice. More details of the inquiry were set to emerge in court filings on Friday.
Barr, who was attorney general under Bush from 1991 to 1993 and has worked in the private sector since then, would oversee Mueller’s probe if the Senate confirms him in the job again.
He is likely to face pressure at his confirmation hearings to show he would protect Mueller from political interference. Critics of Trump have long been concerned that the president wants to end the Mueller probe.
Republicans, who control the Senate, said Barr was well qualified. Senator Chuck Grassley called him a “talented, well-respected lawyer.”