In the discussion of the post below about her nomination to be DNI, I had mentioned that she was not an intelligence officer but a medical one. Thomas pointed out that she'd served in Civil Affairs, though as a reservist (not everyone realizes that Civil Affairs is a special operations posting in its active duty component, and thus entails some SOF training). She was a military police officer. None of that really points up why you'd pick her as DNI. [UPDATE: see comments for further corrections from Thomas, who is apparently a fan of her career.]
If the purpose is to de-weaponize the government so it isn't used against its own citizens, which is a noble and proper purpose, then the TSA story explains the choice. She has reason to be personally offended by what was done to her, as Trump does himself. It makes sense of what the project really is.
Yes, Trump seems to be picking people who have a personal stake in the game.
ReplyDeleteShe's been National Guard or Reserves for her whole military career, I think.
Not to be pendantic (too late, probably), but she was an enlisted medic in the Hawaiian National Guard. After a deployment to Iraq where she earned the Combat Medic Badge, she went to an accelerated commissioning program at the Alabama Military Academy, graduated top of her class, and then became a platoon leader in an MP unit in the Guard, deploying to Kuwait in that role. Later, she moved to California and transferred to a Reserve Civil Affairs unit, with which she deployed to the Horn of Africa.
A number of Trump's picks exhibit this direction. Gaetz for AG probably most conspicuously but John Hinderacker thinks Hegseth for SecDef has a similar logic.
ReplyDeleteAnd Musk for DOGE -- who has been held back more by government over-regulation and inefficiency than someone like Musk?
ReplyDeleteOh, while I'm being pedantic, for those who don't know, there are National Guard special operations units. The 160th SOAR has one ARNG battalion, part of the Oklahoma NG (1/245th Aviation). The 19th & 20th Special Forces Groups are ARNG as well.
ReplyDeleteSince you want to be, while all active duty Civil Affairs units are SOF, so also are many of the Reserve units.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Civil_Affairs_and_Psychological_Operations_Command
I didn't know until you told me that Civil Affairs was SOF. Learn something new every day!
ReplyDelete