Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) warned Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a recent letter about any efforts within the department to “defy or circumvent” President-elect Donald Trump’s “plans for both military and civil-service reform.”
Referring to reports about DoD employees strategizing to thwart Trump’s efforts, Cotton said such actions by "partisans and obstructionists" “undermine civilian control of the military and our constitutional structure of government.”
Cotton criticized Lloyd in his letter for "promulgating false claims that the incoming administration plans to arbitrarily fire uniformed leaders."
Further, he slammed the secretary for a message after the election that the military would specifically follow "lawful orders" from Trump. Cotton said this was "a thinly veiled and baseless insinuation that President Trump will issue unlawful orders."
"I have to observe that these actions and reports only prove the need for reform and fundamental change at the Department of Defense. And, of course, while inappropriate and annoying, these tactics are also useless because no action by the outgoing administration can limit the incoming president’s constitutional authority as commander-in-chief," the Arkansas Republican wrote. (Fox News)
The letter comes after CNN reported earlier this month that discussions are currently taking place at the DoD about how employees should respond if Trump issues orders to use the military for domestic purposes and if "large swaths of apolitical staffers" are fired.
Speaking about his letter on X, Cotton said "the Pentagon should knock off this nonsense and get on with the business of handing over the reigns to the next administration."
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