Even the Army War College Thinks Something Is Amiss

The Strategic Studies Institute of the Army War College publishes some interesting articles, many of which are free.  This month they have an article on the civil-military relationship.  The authors do not think the relationship is good in that it is becoming one where the Constitution's supremacy of the civil over the military is being frayed.  More and more, we see members of the military being treated differently than the general population.

One of the authors, Diane Mazur, blames Rehnquist for starting this separation.   Some of his Supreme Court decisions, she contends, advocated his conservative leanings. To wit, civilians should be encouraged to withdraw from active participation in civil-military relations and civilian control of the military and to see themselves as unqualified and undeserving to question assertions of military necessity. Service members should be encouraged to resent civilians, civilian society, and civilian influence over the military.  The military should be portrayed as distant, remote, and separate from civilian society. The more different the military is from the civilian society it serves, the less justification there might be for holding the military to the expectations of civilian law.  The military should be viewed as morally superior to civilian society and civilian government, and military values should be elevated above constitutional values.  Judges, courts, and other institutions of law should be reluctant to insert themselves in legal controversies involving the military, creating a vacuum that could be filled by political partisanship and allegiance.

A second author, Bruce Ackerman, looks at the increasing number of military people - active and retired - who have become senior staff or leaders in the Pentagon, NSC and other intelligence agencies.  He points out: Prior to 1980, the civilian leadership within the DoD was overwhelmingly nonmilitary; only 17 percent of these officials had as much as 5 years of military service.96 Since 1980, the numbers have changed considerably. Nearly a quarter of them have had 15 years of service, and 44 percent have had 5 years.

Eisenhower warned us.  Here is an excerpt from his 'military-industrial complex' speech:

Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.