Top U.S. General Defends Behavior Of U.S. Troops In Very Politically Turbulent Time'

Dan Lamothe and Missy Ryan, Greenwich/The Washington Post: Top general defends behavior of U.S. troops in 'very politically turbulent time'

WASHINGTON - The United States is in a "very politically turbulent time" that has required military officials to address displays of partisanship by some U.S. troops, the Pentagon's top general said Wednesday, emphasizing that the majority of service members have acted professionally.

"With very few exceptions, they have conducted themselves in a manner very consistent with our ethos and with our values," said Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "They have done exactly what we've asked them to do, by and large."

Dunford, who is expected to retire next month, did not list any of the incidents in question. But some service members at public events have displayed banners, hats and flags featuring the "Make America Great Again" political slogan favored by President Donald Trump. Such displays violate military regulations designed to enforce political neutrality in uniform.

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WNU editor: Gen. Joseph Dunford is retiring later this month.

Will Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford Follow US Defense Secretary Mattis And Resign?

Generals Mark Milley and Joseph Dunford (Wikimedia)

Military Times: With Mattis leaving the Pentagon, is Dunford next to go?

With Thursday’s announcement that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had resigned over disagreement with the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria, among other splits, all eyes turned to the military’s top-ranking officer to see if he would be following suit.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford was traveling overseas on his annual visit to troops over the holidays when the news broke of Mattis' resignation.

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WNU Editor: When I read two weeks ago that President Trump had picked Army Gen. Mark Milley to be the next Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs (link here) .... 10 months before Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford is mandated to leave .... that was a message to me that President Trump wants General Dunford out ASAP. My prediction. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dunford will be leaving sooner rather than later.

U.S. Gen. Joseph Dunford Addresses Talk Of An Afghanistan Pullout At A Base South Of Kabul

Stars and Stripes: Dunford addresses talk of Afghanistan pullout at holiday USO show

CAMP DAHLKE WEST, Afghanistan – The mission for troops in Afghanistan continues as planned, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said amid reports of a partial pullout from the country, while speaking in front of hundreds of U.S. troops gathered at a USO celebrity holiday event Monday.

“There’s all kinds of rumors swirling around,” Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford said. “The mission you have today is the same as the mission you had yesterday.”

The Trump administration reportedly ordered the Pentagon to make plans to withdraw some 7,000 troops from the country late last week, but Army Gen. Scott Miller, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told local media Sunday that orders of a pullout had not yet reached the leadership here.

On Christmas Eve, Dunford told the troops at this austere base about 60 miles south of Kabul that he’d ensure their leaders got word as soon as anything changes.

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WNU editor: General Dunford and US Defense Secretary Mattis' plan on how to improve the security situation in Afghanistan can now be labelled as a failure. And what is worse .... there is no Plan B from the Pentagon and commanders in the field on what needs to be done next (with the exception of sending more military forces into the country). What is also not helping the situation is making these excuses .... Dunford Says US Must Stay In Afghanistan Or Face New 9/11 (TOLO News). If there was ever a time for a new approach to this 17 year old conflict, it is now.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford: U.S. Military Needs More Money (and New Ideas)

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provide testimony on DoD’s Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Budget Request to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., June 13, 2017. DoD photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith

Air Force Times: Saving America’s military edge will take money — and new ideas, Dunford says

HALIFAX, Canada — The U.S. military needs Congress to provide sustained defense spending to maintain its eroding military edge against Russia and China — but also needs to start innovating, its top uniformed officer said Saturday.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford’s remarks at the Halifax International Security Forum came days after a National Defense Strategy Commission report concluded the U.S. would, “struggle to win, or perhaps lose, a war against China or Russia.”

Citing that report, Dunford said whoever is in his job in 2023 and beyond will be at a disadvantage — “if we don’t change the trajectory we have been on, if we don’t have sustained, predictable, accurate levels of funding, if we don’t look carefully at the areas where we are challenged — in space, in cyberspace, in the maritime domain.”

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WNU Editor:  It's always about the money.

Gen. Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Russia And China Can Now Match U.S. Military Power

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks at the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy to discuss the U.S. military in a time of geopolitical strain in Penn Pavilion at Duke University, Durham, N.C., Nov. 5, 2018. Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro/Department of Defense

National Interest: The US military's top officer says Russia and China present different challenges — but they both can rival US power

* The US and its allies are in a period of heightened tensions with Russia and China.
* Despite the increased strain, it's not like the superpower showdown in the latter half of the 20th century that raised the risk of nuclear war, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said.
* But things could escalate, and the chairman encouraged further communication.

In September, Russian armed forces, joined by Chinese and Mongolian troops, gathered in the country's east for Vostok-18, an "unprecedented" military exercise that Russia said was the largest since 1981.

In October and November, all 29 NATO members and Sweden and Finland massed in Norway for Trident Juncture 2018, a regular exercise that this year was the largest version since the Cold War, according to NATO officials.

Joining Trident Juncture was the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which sailed into the Arctic Circle west of Norway on October 19, becoming the first US aircraft carrier to do so since the early 1990s.

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Update: Dunford warns that Russia, China are near-peer military competition (UPI)

WNU Editor: More proof that we now live in a multi-polar world.

Should We Believe What U.S. Gen. Joseph Dunford Is Claiming In Afghanistan?

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, right, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets with Army Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., commander of the Resolute Support mission and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 15, 2016. DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando

Paul Szoldra, Task & Purpose: Does Gen. Dunford Actually Believe His Own Bullsh-t?

I often wonder whether four-star generals actually believe their own bullshit.

That thought has crossed my mind more than once after reading quotes from Gen. Joseph Dunford, the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. You see, old “fightin’ Joe” has been in the news quite a bit lately, since he recently took a trip over to Afghanistan to learn firsthand how everything is shaping up.

Predictably, he returned and told us that, yes, there are a few issues here or there still to be worked out, but he’s “encouraged by the progress” in Afghanistan, some 17 years after the first American boots were on the ground.

Does Dunford actually buy this sales line of “progress” that has been offered ad nauseam by just about every general in Afghanistan for the past 10 years?

Or how about another DoD news item from a week ago, when Dunford talked up the “fundamentally different” strategy of advising and assisting Afghan security forces that was recently implemented by the Trump administration? He told reporters traveling with him that 2018 was “not another year of the same thing we’ve been doing.”

Really, Joe? I’d like to fact check you for a moment here if I could.

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WNU Editor: Paul Szoldra from Task & Purpose has been a harsh critic of the U.S.-Afghan military strategy and its leadership for a long time, and he does not disappoint here.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford: North Korea Can Attack U.S. Mainland With Missile

© REUTERS/ KCNA

Newsweek: North Korea Can Attack U.S. Mainland With Missile, Top American General Warns

North Korea has advanced its missile development program to the point where it could strike the U.S. mainland with an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a top U.S. general has confirmed.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, made the claim as he appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday as part of his reappointment process.

Among the questions Dunford faced about the state of the U.S. armed forces and global threats, Senator Deb Fischer asked for an assessment of the ballistic threat Pyongyang presents to the homeland, following its multiple recent ICBM tests.

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More News On Gen. Joseph Dunford's Remarks That North Korea Can Attack The U.S. Mainland With Missile

US Should Assume North Korea Has Nuclear ICBM Capability Today: US Joint Chiefs Chairman -- The Diplomat
North Korea will have nuclear weapons capable of reaching US in 'very short time', top general warns -- The Independent
Gen. Joseph Dunford: US should assume North Korea can already hit country with nukes -- Washington Examiner
Top general warns North Korea will have nuclear weapons capable of reaching the US in a 'very short rime' -- AOL

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford: China 'Greatest Threat' To US By 2025

Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, waits to be seated during the Senate Armed Services Committee reconfirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate Hart Building in Washington, D.C., Thursday, Sept. 26, 2017. DoD Photo

CNN: Top US general: China will be 'greatest threat' to US by 2025

(CNN)America's top military officer, Gen. Joseph Dunford, told Congress Tuesday China is likely to be the "greatest threat" of any foe to the US within a decade.

"I think China probably poses the greatest threat to our nation by about 2025," Dunford told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing on his re-appointment as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Dunford was responding to a question from Hawaii Democrat Sen. Mazie Hirono, who noted that the general had previously identified Russia, followed by China and North Korea, as representing the greatest military threats to US national security during a 2015 appearance before the same committee.

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WNU Editor: I would also add China becoming the main economic threat .... but sooner than 2025.

More News On Gen. Joseph Dunford Remarks That China Will Be The 'Greatest Threat' To US By 2025

US military chief Dunford: China is main threat to security -- Asia Times
China May Take Over North Korea, Russia as Greatest Threat to US, Top General Warns -- Newsweek
Here’s What a Top General Thinks Is the Next Big Threat to the U.S. -- Joseph Hincks, Time
America's top general says China will probably be the 'greatest threat to our nation' by 2025 -- Business Insider
Top US General Says China Will Displace Russia as 'Greatest Threat' By 2025 -- Sputnik Internationa

Top U.S. General: U.S. Might Use Force Against North Korea As Early As This Fall

Gordon G. Chang, Daily Beast: Top U.S. General Hints at Military Action Against North Korea in a ‘Few More Months’

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the U.S. might use force against North Korea as early as this fall. Did you hear that, Pyongyang? How about you, Beijing?

Several media outlets have reported that Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said over the weekend that war with North Korea was not “unimaginable.” What has gone unreported is that he also suggested the administration is giving diplomacy only “a few more months.”

Dunford’s comments, sure to be heard in Beijing and Pyongyang, come as the Trump administration is hinting, with various degrees of subtlety, that it is willing to kill Kim Jong Un, the North Korean despot.

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More News On Gen. Joseph Dunford's Remarks On North Korea

War between US and North Korea is 'not unimaginable', says chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff -- The Independent
US General reveals how 'horrific' war between United States, N Korea would play out -- 7 News
Joint Chiefs chairman: North Korea top concern for U.S. -- UPI
‘Horrific’ War With North Korea May Still Happen, Gen Dunford Says -- Task & Purpose
North Korea is Able to Launch a 'Limited Missile Attack,' Warns Top US General -- Time

Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Joseph Dunford Speaks At The Aspen Security Forum (Video)

WNU Editor: Key points from General Dunford's remarks at the Aspen Security Forum ....

Dunford: Military option for North Korea not 'unimaginable' (Politico)
Top U.S. General Says Russia Just One Of Many Security Threats Facing Country Today (RFE)
Joseph Dunford says Russia most military capable country of those posing threat to US (TASS)

Top U.S. General: Trump Orders Would Hurt Troop Morale

Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford testifies during the Senate Armed Services committee nomination hearing to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 9, 2015. REUTERS/YURI GRIPAS

Reuters: Top U.S. general, without citing Trump, warns on troops' morale

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer told the Senate on Thursday that it would harm the morale of U.S. forces to order them to carry out activities such as waterboarding or targeting civilians, options previously cited by leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not comment on U.S. politics, and Trump's name did not come up in a question put to him by Senator Lindsey Graham or in Dunford's response.

However, when asked by Graham, a former 2016 White House contender and frequent Trump critic, what the impact such tactics would have on the morale of the force, Dunford said:

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More News On The Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs of Staff Remarking That Donald Trump's Anti-Terror Orders Would Hurt Soldier Morale

Joint Chiefs chairman: Trump orders would harm troop morale -- The Hill
US military chief rejects Donald Trump’s anti-terror rhetoric -- Financial Times
Top U.S. general: Targeting civilians could hurt troop morale -- CNN
Nation’s top military officer scoffs at Trump proposals to waterboard terrorists, bomb civilians -- Washington Times
Dunford Again Calls Torture and Waterboarding Un-American -- Military.com

U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. Is Sworn In As Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff

Washington Post: Dunford becomes America’s top military officer as Dempsey retires

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey stepped down as the United States’ top uniformed official on Friday, making way for Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, who commanded U.S. troops in Afghanistan and will now take on a daunting set of military challenges including Russia’s buildup in Syria, China’s saber-rattling in the South China Sea, and a stalemated campaign in Iraq.

President Obama and Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter joined Dempsey and Dunford at the handover ceremony, accompanied by a gun salute, drum corps, and other military pomp, at a base near the Pentagon.

Obama praised Dempsey, retiring after a long Army career, for providing a “steady hand” in leading a military in transition after the large-scale deployments that followed the Sept. 11, 2011, attacks.

More News On U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. Being Sworn In As Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff

President Praises Retiring Dempsey, Incoming Chairman Dunford -- US Department of Defense
Dempsey Retires as Joint Chiefs Chairman in Emotional Farewell -- Military.com
Barack Obama Marks Transition at Top of Military Brass -- WSJ
Marine General Sworn In As US Military's Top Officer -- AFP
Change of command: Obama wishes Dempsey well, welcomes Dunford -- USA Today
General Dempsey retires, transitions Joint Chiefs of Staff chair -- UPI

U.S. Senate Confirms Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. As The Next Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff

General Joseph Dunford © Gary Cameron / Reuters

USA Today/Military Times: Senate confirms Marine general as Joint Chiefs chairman

The Senate confirmed Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Wednesday after a brief dispute between Pentagon leaders and the chamber's leading critic of military sexual assault policy.

The spat between Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and military officials had nothing to do with Dunford's credentials but instead centered on data of sexual assaults at large military bases, information she has been seeking for years.

She stalled the confirmation process for about two days until Defense Secretary Ash Carter offered assurances to her Wednesday morning that the information would be made available soon.

More News On The U.S. Senate Confirming Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. As The Next Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford confirmed as Joint Chiefs chairman -- UPI
US Senate confirms Dunford as next Joint Chiefs chairman -- AFP
Senate confirms new Joint Chiefs chairman -- The Hill
US Senate confirms Dunford as Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman -- Deutsche Welle
US Senate Confirms Russia-Wary General as Next Joint Chiefs Chairman -- Sputnik
General who labeled Russia ‘America’s biggest threat’ confirmed as top US military officer -- RT