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My understanding is that the military would never decide between two claimants - the civilian Secretary of Defense would do that. I’d the SecDef is dead, or th
by pyuser583 4y ago
My understanding is that the military would never decide between two claimants - the civilian Secretary of Defense would do that.
I’d the SecDef is dead, or the post vacant, there’s a very long civilian order of succession.
- pjc50 4y agoSo that's stated in the article: "4. Civilian control is exercised within the executive branch for operational orders by the chain of command, which runs from the president to the civilian secretary of defense to the combatant commanders. " .. however, that's not the full story. What if the SecDef is compromised? Inebriated? Insane? And issues some orders which would be disastrous or illegal? The generals, not unreasonably, are not going to blow up the world for a point of principle. And in the event of a disputed election: are you sure who the SecDef actually is? Like a lot of systems, there's an implicit assumption that people will pull together and try to figure out a workable solution in extreme circumstances. But hyperpartisanship changes that: officials are confronted by politicians reading completely different news sources holding completely different views of what reality is, without the good faith willingness to understand other people's point of view.
- pyuser583 4y ago> Like a lot of systems, there's an implicit assumption that people will pull together and try to figure out a workable solution in extreme circumstances. The us military is not one of those systems. The us military assumes everyone is an idiot.