Political bickering over the military makes the United States appear weak to adversaries such as China and Russia and contributes to dropping public trust in the uniformed services, experts told senators on Wednesday.
Fiona Hill, a former U.S. National Security Council official during the Trump administration, said conversations about “wokeness” infiltrating the military and other political fights undermine the strength of the U.S. in the eyes of its enemies.
She issued the warning in response to a question from Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who asked during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing what China thinks of a focus on “[gender] pronouns and things like that” in the U.S. military. Some Republicans have attacked the Pentagon for social policies that aim to promote racial and gender equality in the armed forces.
“They watch all of this and frankly, they think we’ve lost it,” Hill said in response to Scott. “The more I’m afraid that we make statements like this, the more that we start attacking our fellow Americans for whatever perspective we think they come from, the more that Russia and China think that we’re working ourselves out of history.”
Hill, now a senior fellow at the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution, said the U.S. needs to show solidarity to be able to deter adversaries and unite its partners.
“I think China and Russia do know that we still can be lethal, but we’re most lethal when we get our act together, and [show] that we’re all Americans fighting together on one side, and that’s what our adversaries and our friends are looking to us for,” she said. “They’re watching us and thinking, you know, has America lost the plot at the moment.”
That thinking is also shared by some Americans who were recently polled about their opinion of the military. A 2022 survey performed by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute found trust and confidence in the uniformed services dropped from 70% in 2018 to 48% in November.
“We asked the respondents why, and the response was clear that the American people believe that the military has become politicized,” said Roger Zakheim, director of the nonprofit Reagan organization. “I think it is not a concern of the American people that the U.S. military is unable to carry out their core mission of protecting this country and being the best military force in the world, it’s a concern about politicization penetrating their mission.”
About 62% of surveyed Americans said they believed military leadership has become overly politicized, including 43% of Republicans and 24% of Democrats.
Republicans named “woke” practices as the main culprit, without defining what those practices were, while Democrats said they were most concerned about the presence of far-right extremism in the military ranks, according to the survey. . . . (read more on Stars & Stripes
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PHOTO
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, MA, UNITED STATES
06.28.2017
Photo by Linda LaBonte Britt
66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
Hanscom AFB personnel participate in a 5K Rainbow Run on base June 29. Hanscom’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month Committee hosted the run as part of their events during June to raise awareness and increase understanding of the LGBT community, and more than 100 people participated. (U.S. Air Force photo by Linda LaBonte Britt)
I am retired after 22 years in the Air Force. My son retired after 26 years in the Navy. We are both disgusted at the turn the US military has taken. Thank you STARRS for standing up.