National Security Insecurity

The Planned Gathering

🏛️✈️ The national security issues with bringing hundreds of senior US military leaders from the most powerful military in the entire world all to one place are spectacular.

Reporting indicates that the US Secretary of Defense has called a meeting next week in which US senior military leaders have been requested/required to show up in Virginia all in one place for an in-person meeting. Despite the US military having robust and classified capabilities for group video conferencing, despite the national security risks from bringing these leaders together, despite the lack of precedence for such a thing, despite the resulting interruption to existing military activities, despite the short notice, despite the high cost, and despite the look of vulnerability that this could present to US enemies.

Here’s ABC reporting from earlier today that includes an extra bonus of the narrator cutting slack for the country’s most powerful person not knowing that this is a domestic meeting of the US’ own military leadership called by the Secretary of Defense that he appointed:

Reporting from various sources indicates that the military’s current political leadership has already started thinning senior leadership and intends to make more leadership cuts at pretty drastic levels.

It is not clear whether those cuts are tied to this planned gathering of senior leaders.

By now there’s been a ton of analysis on this, and theories gone wild.

About The Leaders

Just the fact that this is happening is not okay. Whatever it is.

But two points...

⭕ It’s outside of most of our circle of control or even our circle of influence. 🔭 We’re going to have to watch it from the outside. And cross our fingers or pray or wear garlic or do dances or get the crystals out or whatever we do to bring about the best results. Sparkles and glitter and holding space. Calls to legislators that might still be listening to constituents and trying to check this administration. Whatever works.

🏛️ The other thing is that this group of humans being brought together due to their military leadership positions are better positioned than anyone else in the entire United States and in fact in the world to hold their own. To follow the laws of the United States. To uphold the Constitution. And so on.

We don’t know what they will be asked to do or not do, or be or not be.

This is a group of rule followers, and rule enforcers. 📋

This is a group of war leaders.

This is a group of strategists and tacticians.

This is a group of people who work scenarios and contingencies and contingencies for contingencies in their sleep.

This is a group of people who change tactics and strategies in a moment and with breathtaking results. That’s just what they do.

This is a group of people who actively command vast groups of highly skilled personnel, and very fierce and powerful US military assets and capabilities.

Again, as part of the most powerful military in the entire world.

They may not be wired to be working behind the scenes to make sure things hold up even if the administration tries some really crazy things.

They are institution leaders wired and trained to uphold the institutions.

They may not be positioning themselves to hold things together in the case that the administration wants to make spectacular and fast changes.

But they also might.

I think they are very sharp, very bright, and quite fierce individuals with decades of experience and action to get them where they are.

I think that very many of them will advocate for the rule of law and the US Constitution quite fiercely.

Even if they are removed from positions in very dramatic ways in the moment.

Vulnerabilities

Lots of things could happen in such a meeting. Lots of things could happen to such a meeting.

Given our weakened state of national security as a country, the number of foreign operatives likely actively operating domestically (in other words, in the United States) is probably pretty high. Which could increase the risks for any gathering of military leaders in one geographic area without appropriate security in place for such a gathering. And is there appropriate security for such a spectacularly assembled gathering of US military leadership?

Of course, many people who are in political appointments in national security positions in this administration are not appropriately vetted themselves from a national security standpoint so that also increases risk. Especially when putting them together in the same space with such high level military leaders.

But then the most senior leader of this country has met privately for extended periods with the most senior leader of our greatest rival with no other people in attendance and no security measures... so here we are.

Preparedness For The Unexpected

Whatever happens in this planned gathering, most of us will not be able to influence... or predict.

One thing that could happen is that the military institutions could hold.

It could be that attempts are made to tear them apart or to consolidate power, but that the military leaders mitigate all of that with the levers they have including explaining and educating about how the current structure is designed and is supposed to work.

These leaders are very good at having goals and missions, and bringing those to reality with very creative ways of doing that.

Solid leaders with decades of experience are very difficult to dissuade. They are formidable and persuasive. They are a force to be reckoned with.

Which okay, maybe that’s one reason why the administration would like to have less of them.

But taking leaders away makes the military weaker and correspondingly weakens the power of the United States and therefore the power that the administration has.

The administration doesn’t seem to have figured that out yet, but perhaps they will learn that through this experience. Or maybe they won’t.

Or maybe the administration wants to restructure that power so that it will operate domestically in questionably legal ways and they want to get rid of the leadership in the military who wouldn’t likely do it.

But the administration probably could not easily gauge how that would go. Good solid high-level military leaders don’t often reveal their personal political preferences or how they would act in various situations.

Of course, the current political leadership has dozens of tells so we may all know a lot more about this planned meeting before it happens. 💦 They are leaky like a sinking boat, but also just like to say what they’re up to because of ego and whatnot. 📜 Also of course they laid much of their strategy in Project 2025 so there’s that.

All of which may give the military leaders some intel on what they can expect for such a gathering.

Handling The Risk

In any case, whatever happens in this gathering... the senior military leaders who have been requested to be a part of it are better prepared probably than anyone in the entire world for such a meeting and for many of the possible contingencies that could happen within it.

They will likely default to holding together the institution that is the United States military.

They will likely default to holding together the institution that is the United States.

They will likely default to upholding the United States Constitution.

They will likely default to upholding, defending, and following the laws of these United States.

They hold power. They emanate power. They are power.

They will not easily be swayed or bullied or talked into illegal ridiculousness or abuses of power.

📊🔭📈 They will be analyzing the risk landscape very thoroughly prior to such an event.

They have been analyzing the risk landscape within the US military since this administration began in January.

I don’t think they will be caught off guard.

Then again, they are rule followers. Institutional erosion or transformation sometimes happens because leaders follow and uphold rules as creep happens. That is a possibility, although I don’t think it’s the most likely.

Again, the senior military leaders are rule followers. They might be blindsided by straight up and unexpected attacks administratively on the institution that is the United States military that could happen in this plan together or otherwise.

Those things are possibilities.

But so far, the US military has held overall as an intact institution.

Some Of The Big Things Are Holding

In fact, some of the other parts of the US government that were heavily administratively attacked and attempted to be dismantled by this administration are being restaffed and reassembled in various ways. Certainly not all. There’s been a lot of damage. The effects continue to show up and evolve.

But there’s also been a lot of trying to put pieces back together. 🧩 Because the damage and effects were deemed not acceptable by people who were in positions to put pieces back together.

The point is that so far, big institutions even inside the US government have held in various ways.

🏛️ Some really big things are holding.

The United States military is one of the biggest things out there in the country to hold.

So far, I’m not convinced that it’s been weakened to the point where it would cave in easily to this administration’s possible attempts to weaken or transform it drastically and quickly.

For what it’s worth.

People Want Society To Keep Working Like It Was

And you know if that’s not what happens and drastic, fast, transformational military changes are made and they stick, well then we’re in a different place.

Then we have to deal with that if that’s the country that develops. In fact, this nonprofit is working on civic engagement ideas to help people find ways forward and through. Because no matter how this evolves, it’s going to be messy and disruptive. Check out zooms on finding ways through —

Anyway, whether or not drastic, fast, transformational military changes are attempted, there’s heck of a lot of momentum for that to not be the country that develops.

Even despite the number of people that are prepping for an apocalypse. Even despite the number of people that talk almost casually about how systems and countries might just collapse all around us.

Really, really big societal and economic systems make up these United States alongside its government. There are really big players who want stuff to continue the way it has. Who don’t want oligarchs and consolidated rule.

So we’ll see what happens.

But so far a lot of things are holding. People are working pretty hard to make sure that they hold.

Some of the things we really need to hold together because a more functional society takes care of people better.

People want society to work; to hold together; to function like it was functioning before all the huge changes started this past January.

So we’ll see how this goes. Keep the faith... in formidable and resilient humans who are strong leaders and good people. And that references a whole lot of us — not just the big military leaders.

We have options; more than we think. We have good people.

Forward and through.

🤺⚡🔦

Zooms and other Fierce Community efforts are made possible by people who donate to this work through ActBlue, through Patreon, and through paid Substack subscriptions.

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Vanessa Burnett is the director at Fierce Community. This nonprofit work promotes civic engagement through connection, community, creativity, leadership, empowerment, alliances, and resilience in an era of rising instability and societal disruption. It’s through-finding by countering fear. Vanessa is a social entrepreneur, advisor, and empower-er with a systems-level understanding of the pieces and parts that modern society needs in order to survive. She has over 25 years experience in resilience-building, civic engagement, coalition-building, critical infrastructure, systems thinking, big disasters, catastrophes, wildland fire, emergency management, incident management, land management, park rangering, homeland security, continuity of operations (COOP), continuity of government (COG), technology innovation, public communication, and disaster information sharing.

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For More

The Bulwark has a decent analysis on this big military leader meeting issue with more specifics about various military details:

As Our Generals and Admirals Fly Home, Our Adversaries Watch and Wait

Also, here’s an MSNBC segment from this morning on the same topic, with two former senior national security leaders: