QResear.ch

#24811098 at 2026-07-10 16:03:01 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #30294: GM TGIF Wut A Time To Be Alive Edition

Iran 'skepticism' has been VALIDATED, says retired general insists
Ret. Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro analyzes recent U.S. strikes in Iran, including the attack on an IRGC Aerospace Force command center in Bushehr, and says U.S. negotiators should be sent home
(Fox is having a lot of retired military that are suggesting US put boots on the ground. They will never learn.)

4:12



https://youtu.be/uI7iH8DXqDQ

#22632049 at 2025-02-22 13:03:52 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #27652: What Will Kash Find? Edition

(2/2)

He told The Associated Press on Friday: "The President and Secretary of Defense deserve to have generals they trust and the force deserves to have generals who have credibility with our elected and appointed officials. While I'm disappointed to leave under these circumstances, I wouldn't want the outcome to be any different."

Trump has asserted his executive authority in a much stronger way in his second term, removing most officials from the Biden administration even though many of those positions are meant to carry over from one administration to the next.

The chairman role was established in 1949 as an adviser to the president and secretary of defense, as a way to filter all of the views of the service chiefs and more readily provide that information to the White House without the president having to reach out to each individual military branch, according to an Atlantic Council briefing written by retired Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro. The role has no actual command authority.

Trump acted despite support for Brown among key members of Congress and a seemingly friendly meeting with him in mid-December, when the two were seated next to each other for a time at the Army-Navy football game.

The firing follows days of speculation after a list of officers, including Brown, to be fired was circulated on Capitol Hill - but notably was not sent via any formal notification to either of the Republican chairmen of the House or Senate armed services committees.

Sen. Roger Wicker, GOP chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, didn't mention Caine's name in a statement Friday.

"I thank Chairman Brown for his decades of honorable service to our nation," Wicker said. "I am confident Secretary Hegseth and President Trump will select a qualified and capable successor for the critical position of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

Congressional Democratic leaders called out the firings as a direct attempt to politicize the military.

"A professional, apolitical military that is subordinate to the civilian government and supportive of the Constitution rather than a political party is essential to the survival of our democracy," Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement late Friday. "For the sake of our troops and the well-being of every American, elected leaders - especially Senate Republicans - must defend that enduring principle against corrosive attempts to remake the military into a partisan force."

Brown's future was called into question during the confirmation hearing for Hegseth last month. Asked if he would fire Brown, Hegseth responded, "Every single senior officer will be reviewed based on meritocracy, standards, lethality and commitment to lawful orders they will be given."

Hegseth had previously taken aim at Brown. "First of all, you gotta fire, you know, you gotta fire the chairman of Joint Chiefs," he said flatly in a podcast in November. And in one of his books, he questioned whether Brown got the job because he was Black.

"Was it because of his skin color? Or his skill? We'll never know, but always doubt - which on its face seems unfair to CQ. But since he has made the race card one of his biggest calling cards, it doesn't really much matter," Hegseth wrote.

As he walked into the Pentagon on his first day as defense chief on Jan. 27, Hegseth was asked directly if he planned to fire Brown.

"I'm standing with him right now," said Hegseth, patting Brown on the back. "Look forward to working with him."

#15798839 at 2022-03-06 19:55:00 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #19977: Dubs Dubs Confirm Kaleidoscope Eyes Edition

WASHINGTON: "The National Defense Industrial Association's chief executive is stepping down, citing a disagreement about the direction and leadership of the association. Since 2017, Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle has led the group, speaking for the defense industry in its opposition to statutory budget caps and budget instability, and helping it grapple with the economic fallout from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. NDIA, which has 1,700 member companies, announced Carlisle's departure Friday and said he would stay on until April 1, by which a replacement would be found. In an interview with Defense News, Carlisle pointed to disagreements with NDIA Chairman Arnold Punaro and Vice Chairman Michael Bayer.
The move is part of an unusual amount of upheaval for defense trade associations in recent days. Politico reported last month several Aerospace Industries Association member firms, including Lockheed, Boeing and BAE Systems, were withholding dues from AIA following a series of policy losses in the first year of the Biden administration."

https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2022/03/04/defense-trade-association-chief-resigns-after-leadership-split/

#11923502 at 2020-12-06 14:15:44 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #15219:All Roads Lead to SCOTUS Edition

>>11923353
There were at least two advisory boards purged, Defense Business Board (They were fired by group email, too! I love it.) and Defense Policy Board. It's not the chart you requested but here are the names:

"Members of the board received a brief email from Joshua Whitehouse, the White House liaison to the Department of Defense, that simply said, "if you are receiving this e-mail, your membership on the Defense Business Board has expired or is coming to an end."

"A number of board members have been terminated with a form letter. In my experience, I was very surprised that the White House would, at the eleventh hour, adjust an advisory board that for 19 years has had a record of nonpartisan support with the department," Michael Bayer, who until today was board chair, told POLITICO.

Besides Bayer, the other board members who were let go are Arnold Punaro, Atul Vashistha, John O'Connor, David Venlet, Paul Dolan, Scott Dorn, David Walker and David Van Slyke."

And:

The Defense Department on Friday said that a number of members of its Defense Policy Board including former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright had been removed. (From Fox).

Former Democratic officials who were removed include former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Justice Department official Jamie Gorelick, former Rep. Jane Harmon of California, and former Deputy Defense Secretary Rudy DeLeon, now part of the liberal Center for American Progress.

Republicans taken off the board included former arms control and Pentagon policy official J.D. Crouch, former Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph, and former House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia. Retired Adm. Gary Roughead, a former chief of naval operations, also left the board. (Washington Times)

#11912429 at 2020-12-05 12:09:03 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #15206: Rise and Shine for Rally Day Saturday Edition

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/04/pentagon-fires-business-advisory-board-members-442892

The White House removed nine members of the Pentagon's Defense Business Board on Friday and installed people loyal to President Donald Trump in their place, including presidential allies Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie.

The firings marked the latest effort by the Trump administration to clean out the Defense Department in the final weeks of the president's term.
Members of the board received a brief email from Joshua Whitehouse, the White House liaison to the Department of Defense, that simply said, "if you are receiving this e-mail, your membership on the Defense Business Board has expired or is coming to an end."

"A number of board members have been terminated with a form letter. In my experience, I was very surprised that the White House would, at the eleventh hour, adjust an advisory board that for 19 years has had a record of nonpartisan support with the department," Michael Bayer, who until today was board chair, told POLITICO.

"This kind of a move really will weigh heavily on people in the future and their willingness to serve on these outside advisory boards if they're going to be subjected to political loyalty tests. It's unprecedented. I'm just saddened," he added.

Besides Bayer, the other board members who were let go are Arnold Punaro, Atul Vashistha, John O'Connor, David Venlet, Paul Dolan, Scott Dorn, David Walker and David Van Slyke.

A statement by the Pentagon said the members' terms had expired. Yet three former board members who spoke to POLITICO said their tours were not close to ending.

The firings came as a shock to the board members, who had not received any negative feedback or warning prior to their termination. One former board member lamented the move, noting that the board "has never been political, ever."

"You are talking about 15, 20 executives, business leaders, government leaders, who are giving their time to serve the nation and not even a thank you note," said the person, who asked not to be named. "It's just about simple gratitude and appreciation for people."
"I had no indication this was coming. It was a form letter going to a large number of people," Bayer said.

Besides Lewandowski and Bossie, the other new members are Henry Dreifus, Robert McMahon, Cory Mills, Bill Bruner, Christopher Shank, Joseph Schmidt, Keary Miller, Allen Weh and Earl Matthews.

#11718230 at 2020-11-21 00:04:02 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #14958: Thank God It's Friday! Edition

As Trump's term ends, 40 percent of top DoD jobs lack confirmed officials



WASHINGTON - Regular delays in nominations, combined with significant turnover at the highest levels of the Pentagon, means 40 percent of the top jobs at the department that require Senate confirmation are without an approved appointee as the Trump administration winds down.

A tally by Defense News shows 24 of the 60 positions at the Department of Defense are not occupied by confirmed individuals, with experts seeing little chance any current nominees will receive Senate approval before the clock runs out.

Among those offices without a confirmed official are some of the top civilian roles in the department: the Secretary of Defense and the undersecretaries of intelligence, policy, research and engineering and the comptroller.

Almost all of the vacancies are within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), while four spots -Undersecretary of the Navy, Undersecretary of the Air Force, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, and General Counsel of the Army - are vacant at the service level.



The high-profile firings of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, USD-Policy James Anderson and USD-Intelligence Joseph Kernan last week contributed to the empty seats in the department. But the vacancies have been an issue all year - twenty seats were open in April - and the administration has been generally slow to fill spots.

According to information compiled by Arnold Punaro, a former Senate Armed Services Committee staff director and retired Marine Corps general officer, the Trump administration has lagged dramatically behind its predecessor in getting defense officials confirmed.

It took the Obama administration an average of around 5 months to nominate and just over 2 months to confirm its Presidential Appointments requiring Senate confirmation, or PAS, officials - an average of a 7 month process, according to Punaro's data. Top-tier OSD officials, such as an undersecretary for policy, took just under four months to confirm.



But the Trump administration was plagued by a slow process for identifying and nominating individuals for top spots. It took around 7.5 months to nominate and almost 3.5 months to confirm - an average total of 11 months to confirm such individuals. When it comes to those top-tier OSD officials, it took the Trump team six months to nominate and an additional three months to confirm, over twice as long as it took the Obama team for those same roles.

Similar data compiled by the White House Transition Project show that the Trump administration lagged behind every administration back to Ronald Reagan in nominating and confirming appointees.

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2020/11/20/as-trumps-term-ends-40-percent-of-top-dod-jobs-lack-confirmed-officials/

#4474501 at 2018-12-26 17:26:04 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #5705: Hump, Pump, and Dump Day Edition

>>4474394
Dunford served UNDER Mattis in Irag/Afghanistan —

""Dunford has served under Mattis before in Iraq. That's good because President-elect Trump is likely to be a bit suspicious of Dunford because he was promoted by President Obama," Ricks said. "Mattis can disabuse him of that."
Congress just passed legislation that will extend the terms for chairmen to four years. The language was part of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act that was passed by the House on Friday and could go to the Senate this week. However, the four-year terms will not take effect until 2019, Cancian said.
Mattis and Dunford have a similar leadership style shaped by a no-nonsense approach to the Pentagon and a willingness to slice into its bureaucracy, retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro said.
In 2010, Punaro worked on an initiative led by then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates to cut Pentagon headquarters positions to reduce spending. Punaro was a member of a panel that suggested cuts to U.S. Joint Forces Command, which Mattis was leading at the time. Mattis supported the decision.
"You will not find many military officers willing" to agree to cuts of their own commands, Punaro said. "That's Joe Dunford and Jim Mattis."
Retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. James Weirick said the combination of the two generals at the helm is likely to lead to more forces remaining in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dunford was the top commander in Afghanistan during Mattis' final month as the commander of Central Command.
At the time, Mattis proposed keeping 20,000 forces in Afghanistan as the Obama administration transitioned from combat to a train-and-advise mission in late 2014. That same year, after Dunford's Afghanistan tour ended, he told lawmakers during his Senate confirmation hearing to become commandant of the Marine Corps that he did not support the withdrawal of forces by 2017.
In July, Obama revised the drawdown plan and 8,400 troops are set to remain in Afghanistan after his presidency ends."

https://www.stripes.com/news/mattis-as-defense-secretary-could-prolong-dunford-s-stay-as-joint-chiefs-chairman-1.442788