Milley’s security detail has been removed, and he orders an investigation into his conduct

U.S. Sensitivity to Iran’s Order to Kill a General Solimani: A Defense Secretary’s Account of an Indictment of the National Security Inspector General

The inspector general probe saysmining the chain of command is corrosive to our national security and it’s a priority for the Defense Department under President Trump’s leadership.

“General Milley and other former Trump Administration officials continue to face credible, deadly threats from Iran because they carried out President Trump’s order to kill Iranian General Soleimani,” Reed said in a statement. “It is unconscionable and recklessly negligent for President Trump and Secretary Hegseth to revoke General Milley’s security detail for their own political satisfaction. The Administration has placed Milley and his family in grave danger, and they have an obligation to immediately restore his federal protection.”

Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate armed services committee, criticized the decision to have Milley removed from his security detail.

Such comments could get Milley in trouble, say some civil military experts. Under military law a commissioned officer can’t make “contemptuous words” against the president.

Milley and others convinced Trump to change his mind. Milley convinced Trump to keep troops in Syria for a while so they could work with Kurdish forces in the fight against the Islamic State.

When he was elected in 2016, Trump chose Milley — then the Army’s top officer — to be his principal military advisor over Air Force General David Goldfein, who then Defense Secretary James Mattis favored. Trump seemed to like Milley’s ways and demeanor. But over time the relationship deteriorated, much like it did with Trump and two other retired generals — Mattis and former White House chief of staff John Kelly.

Milley walked with Trump from the White House to Lafayette Square in June of 2020 after law enforcement forcibly removed George Floyd protesters. At that time, Milley wore camouflage fatigues. Milley chatted with guardsmen as Trump traveled through the square towards St. John’s Episcopal church, seemingly not wanting to be seen in a political event. Milley later issued an emotional apology at National Defense University, that officials say incensed Trump.

Milley said that the photograph of him at Lafayette Square sparked a debate about the role of the military in civil society. “I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it. We who wear the cloth of our nation come from the people of our nation, and we must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military that is so deeply rooted in the very essence of our Republic.”

During this time, Milley also assured Chinese officials that Trump wasn’t looking to attack Beijing during his final weeks in office. Milley has said that call was coordinated with then Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other administration officials, but Trump later said such calls “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.” Officials tell NPR the call already has been investigated and nothing came of it.

The words “all” and “and” were stressed by Milley when he retired in September, 2023.

“We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” Milley said, in clear reference to Trump. We don’t take an oath to anyone. We are willing to die for the idea that we are America, and we take an oath to the constitution.

According to the general, Donald Trump is the greatest threat to the country ever. I realized he’s a fascist now. He is the most dangerous person in the country.

The Defense Department’s Density of Milley: Why Hegseth Accused President Biden and Other Military Officers?

Former President Biden provided pre-emptive pardons to Milley and others, and that applies to federal and military law. Hegseth seems to be pursuing Milley through the administration.

Civil military experts say it’s unusual, maybe even unprecedented, to investigate a former senior officer for conduct that alleges “undermining the chain of command.”

Peter Feaver is a professor of political science at Duke University and he said it was unusual for the president to punish his own appointees after the fact, at a time when his administration was worried about weaponizing the Justice Department.

Roger Petersen, a professor at MIT and author of recent book on the U.S. political dynamics of the Iraq War, Death, Dominance and State-Building, said such a move by the Pentagon could be a strategic effort by the Trump administration to silence any dissent, or contrary advice, within the senior officer ranks.

Usually senior retired officers are not recalled to active duty for criminal probes. Air Force general Arthur Lichte was demoted from four stars to two stars in the fall of 2017, after being found guilty of inappropriate sexual acts while in uniform.

Even before Hegseth’s orders, efforts to distance the Defense Department from Milley’s legacy were being felt at the Pentagon. Within hours of President Trump taking the oath of office last week, a recently installed portrait of General Milley was removed from the walls of one of the building’s corridors.