A Leftist Agenda is Infecting Our Military

Frank Gaffney recently addressed a pressing issue on Secure Freedom Radio with guest Elaine Donnelly, the President of the Center for Military Readiness. It seems progressive politics are influencing decisions about our military and, as Gaffney rightly points out, members of the military are forbidden from engaging in policy debates. It therefore falls to concerned citizens to speak for them.

Donnelly has had firsthand experience observing changes within our military and explained:

“In recent years, and fast forward to when I was on the presidential commission on the assignment of women in the armed forces, I became very aware that there is a faction and it’s more intense today, that wants to change the culture of the military to say that it is like any other equal opportunity employer. That equal opportunity and career advancement should be the most important thing. Those who took this view on the commission, they were in the minority but they voted for things that we are seeing play out now such as women in direct ground combat units. They see this as a gender diversity issue and they are ignoring or trying to downplay the effect on military necessity, military readiness, combat effectiveness. This is the crux of the argument: Which is most important, combat effectiveness or equal opportunity and the advancement of social agendas?”

Gaffney suggests that the character and culture of the military is being specifically targeted, in other words, none of this is happening by accident. Donnelly concurred:

“The reason the military is a target for leftist activism is because everyone in the military must follow orders. Just like the mid-level or in general… who addressed the presidential commission, they’re not really free to dissent from the orders they’re given. This is what makes the military very vulnerable to leftist forces who want to use it to advance social agendas rather than improve its strength and readiness. The intangibles are even more important than what you can see with weapons, systems, ships and planes, how much money is spent on things involving training. What is really important is unit cohesion and we learned on the presidential commission how special this quality is and it can and must be taught. It can be nurtured, it can also be weakened.”

Donnelly went on to suggest that this all has a direct effect on survival and the ability of unit members to save each other’s lives.

She also suggests that the military has always been a meritocracy but that this aspect of military culture has been “turned on its head” by this administration.

Our men and women in uniform deserve better.