Milley’s China Calls During Trump Defeat Were ‘Lawful,’ Conveyed Reassurance, Pentagon Says
Some Republicans are seeking his ouster, but the Joint Chiefs chairman is the first to serve a guaranteed four years.
By Tara Copp and Jacqueline Feldscher
September 15, 2021 01:50 PM ET
Updated at 3:02 p.m.
Gen. Mark Milley did not go outside the chain of command when the Joint Chiefs chairman reached out to Chinese leaders to reassure them the U.S. would not attack China in the unsteady weeks before and after the 2020 election, his office said Wednesday.
Milley, who is guaranteed another two years in his job, has faced pressure from Congressional Republicans to resign following revelations in Bob Woodward’s upcoming book Peril that the chairman took unusual steps to prevent war. Those steps included reminding flag officers of their specific roles and responsibilities if a nuclear launch were ordered during former President Donald Trump’s erratic final days in office.
Milley’s calls with the Chinese “were in keeping with these duties and responsibilities conveying reassurance in order to maintain strategic stability,” his spokesman Col. Dave Butler said in a statement. “The meeting regarding nuclear weapons protocols was to remind uniformed leaders in the Pentagon of the long-established and robust procedures in light of media reporting on the subject.”
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/09/milleys-china-calls-during-trump-defeat-were-lawful-conveyed-reassurance-pentagon-says/185375/
