The military purge being conducted by the Democratic Party and the Biden administration is not limited to the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Attorney and West Point graduate John Lucas wrote at The Federalist on Friday that the latest targets are America’s service academies.
Lucas says that the extreme politicization occurring at West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy is not happening by accident. He adds that enforcing compliance to a particular political party presents a grave danger to the country.
Each service school is administered by a “Board of Visitors,” which comprises long-serving members of Congress from both parties and retired military and civilian personnel. Federal law charges each board with the responsibility to monitor each school’s “morale and discipline” and its curriculum, fiscal condition, and overall performance. Board members usually visit the schools regularly and submit annual written reports to the President with findings and recommendations.
Within ten days of taking office, Joe Biden had Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announce that he was suspending the Boards of Visitors for the service academies. The suspension was immediate and was to be followed by a review of each board’s mission and “membership balance.” Austin did not have the authority to terminate the membership of board members at that time.
In late August, the Pentagon announced that its review of the boards, completed in April, was nearing completion. Then on September 8, the White House unceremoniously fired the board members previously appointed by President Donald Trump.
The White House sent requests for resignation out that day with notice that if a member did not resign by 6:00 p.m. that evening, they would be involuntarily terminated. No reason was given for the firings.
A follow-up email was sent out the same day by a “Special Assistant” to Biden to members, including Gen. Jack Keane and H.R. McMaster said that if resignation were not received by the “end of the day,” the member would be terminated.
Lucas thinks the sudden terminations are calculated to eliminate independent and diverse viewpoints on the board of service academies. He pointed out the telling defense offered for the firings by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on September 8 when she said qualifications for membership on the boards are “whether or not you’re aligned with the values of this administration.”
Lucas cautions that Biden’s continuing purge of the military academies is part of a leftist drive to “force political conformity in thought, word, and deed” in the military.
