特朗普很可能在动荡的第一任期后任命一名忠诚者担任五角大楼负责人

【中美创新时报2024 年 11 月 11 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）当选总统唐纳德·特朗普对国防部长的人选仍悬而未决，但可以肯定的是，在动荡的第一任期后，他将寻求重塑五角大楼并挑选一名忠诚者。五名担任五角大楼负责人的人选最终辞职、被解雇或短暂担任权宜之计。美联社记者LOLITA C. BALDOR对此作了下述报道。

虽然特朗普尚未宣布决定，但五角大楼的潜在负责人名单包括知名人士（如佛罗里达州众议员迈克·沃尔兹）和一系列前政府忠诚分子，包括退休的中将基思·凯洛格，他在特朗普第一任期内担任国家安全职务。

前国务卿迈克·蓬佩奥曾被提名，但特朗普周六在社交媒体上表示，蓬佩奥不会加入新政府。

一些决定可能会拖延数天，因为候选人争夺关注，官员们等待众议院竞选的最终结果，权衡是否可以任命共和党议员，或者其他人是否是更安全的选择，以避免为空缺的国会席位进行新的选举。

“这个选择将告诉我们很多关于他将如何与五角大楼打交道的信息，”战略与国际研究中心高级顾问、退役海军陆战队上校马克·坎西安说。

他说，像沃尔兹这样拥有深厚军事背景的人（前陆军军官和绿色贝雷帽）可能不会像其他可能被视为特朗普的坚定支持者的人那样发生重大变化。

由于国务院、国家安全委员会和国防部的多个高级职位空缺，预计特朗普将倾向于那些支持他希望结束美国参与任何战争、使用军队控制美墨边境并对伊朗采取强硬路线的人。

然而，关键的考验将是忠诚度和愿意做特朗普想做的任何事情，因为他试图避免五角大楼第一次对他的反对。

那些年里，特朗普与他的文职和军事领导人的关系充满了紧张、困惑和沮丧，因为他们努力缓和甚至只是解释总统的推文和声明，这些推文和声明让他们措手不及，他们没有准备好解释或辩护这些突然的政策决定。

五角大楼的高级官员——无论是穿制服的还是不穿制服的——一次又一次地试图劝阻、拖延或阻止特朗普，涉及的问题包括他早期要求禁止跨性别士兵参军、宣布从叙利亚、伊拉克和阿富汗撤军，以及推动使用军队来监管边境和遏制华盛顿街头的民间骚乱。

在他的第一届政府中，特朗普倾向于他认为是强大的军人和国防工业高管。起初，特朗普迷恋将军，但随着时间的推移，他发现他们不够忠诚。

“他对他们感到厌恶，”坎西安说。“他们不像他想象的那么听话。……我听到有人猜测主席可能会被解雇。所以这是值得关注的事情。”

空军上将 CQ Brown 于 2023 年 10 月接任参谋长联席会议主席，任期四年，但军事领导人的任职取决于总统的意愿。布朗是一名战斗机飞行员，也是第二位担任主席的黑人军官，他在乔治·弗洛伊德被警察杀害后发表了讲话，描述了他在生活和职业生涯中面临的偏见。

预计特朗普还会选择一位蔑视公平和多元化计划、不太可能根据宪法和法治规定的限制来反对其计划的人担任国防部长。但他也可能会推动增加国防开支，至少在最初阶段是这样，包括增加美国导弹防御开支。

一个关键的首要担忧是，特朗普会选择一个不会反对潜在非法或危险命令或保护军队长期以来非政治地位的人。

周四，国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀举起了这面红旗。他在给军队的一份信息中表示，美国军方随时准备“服从其文职指挥系统的所有合法命令”，并补充说，军队宣誓“支持和捍卫美国宪法”。

他在结束四年的参谋长联席会议主席任期时发表的讲话中重申了退役陆军上将马克·米利的声明。

“我们不会向国王、女王、暴君或独裁者宣誓。我们也不会向想要成为独裁者的人宣誓，”米利说。“我们不会向个人宣誓。我们向宪法宣誓，我们向美国的理念宣誓，我们愿意为保护它而献出生命。”

特朗普的第一任国防部长、退役海军陆战队上将吉姆·马蒂斯很快就学会了避开老板的视线，他基本上取消了特朗普能看到的新闻发布会。

马蒂斯和米利，以及特朗普的参谋长、退役海军陆战队将军约翰·凯利和退役海军陆战队将军、参谋长联席会议主席约瑟夫·邓福德都在幕后默默工作，以缓和特朗普的一些决定。

他们阻止了特朗普要求迅速全面撤出伊拉克、叙利亚和阿富汗军队的要求，并成功阻止了使用现役部队平息华盛顿的民间骚乱。

两年后，马蒂斯于 2018 年 12 月突然辞职，原因是他对特朗普的国家安全政策感到沮丧，包括对盟友的明显蔑视以及要求从叙利亚撤出所有军队。 国防部副部长帕特里克·沙纳汉接任五角大楼代理负责人，但六个月后因个人家庭问题被公开而退出提名。

当时的陆军部长马克·埃斯珀接任代理职务，但在获得提名后他不得不短暂辞职，因此海军部长理查德·斯宾塞担任代理负责人，直到埃斯珀获得批准。

埃斯珀在特朗普输掉 2020 年大选几天后被解雇，主要是因为总统认为他不够忠诚。特朗普对埃斯珀公开反对援引两百年前的《叛乱法》在乔治·弗洛伊德被警察杀害后发生的骚乱期间在哥伦比亚特区部署现役部队感到特别愤怒。

特朗普任命曾担任国家反恐中心主任的退役陆军军官克里斯托弗·米勒担任代理部长，并在他身边安插了坚定的忠诚派。

这就是官员们悄悄表示他们希望在特朗普的新政府中看到的五角大楼。

题图：时任总统唐纳德·特朗普（中）与退役陆军中将基思·凯洛格（右）坐在特朗普位于佛罗里达州棕榈滩的海湖庄园，2017 年 2 月 20 日。苏珊·沃尔什/美联社

附原英文报道：

Trump is likely to name a loyalist as Pentagon chief after tumultuous first term

By LOLITA C. BALDOR The Associated Press,Updated November 11, 2024 

Then-President Donald Trump, center, sits with retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, right, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Feb. 20, 2017.Susan Walsh/Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for defense secretary is still up in the air, but it is a sure bet he will look to reshape the Pentagon and pick a loyalist following his tumultuous first term. Five men held the job as Pentagon chief only to resign, be fired or serve briefly as a stopgap.

While he has yet to announce a decision, the names of potential Pentagon chiefs stretch from the well known — such as Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida — to an array of former administration loyalists, including retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who held national security posts during Trump’s first term.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had been floated, but Trump said on social media Saturday that Pompeo would not be joining the new administration.

Some decisions may linger for days as candidates jostle for attention and officials wait for the final results from House races, weighing whether Republican lawmakers can be tapped or if others are a safer pick to avoid a new election for an empty congressional seat.

“The choice is going to tell us a lot about how he will deal with the Pentagon,” said Mark Cancian, senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a retired Marine colonel.

He said someone like Waltz — a former Army officer and Green Beret — with a deep military background may not be as dramatic of a change as others who may be viewed as stronger Trump loyalists.

With a number of top jobs at the State Department, National Security Council and Defense Department up for grabs, Trump is expected to lean toward those who back his desire to end U.S. involvement in any wars, use the military to control the U.S.-Mexico border and take a hard line on Iran.

The key test, however, will be loyalty and a willingness to do whatever Trump wants, as he seeks to avoid the pushback he got from the Pentagon the first time around.

Trump’s relationship with his civilian and military leaders during those years was fraught with tension, confusion and frustration, as they struggled to temper or even simply interpret presidential tweets and pronouncements that blindsided them with abrupt policy decisions they weren’t prepared to explain or defend.

Time after time, senior Pentagon officials — both in and out of uniform — worked to dissuade, delay or derail Trump, on issues ranging from his early demand to prohibit transgender troops from serving in the military and his announcements that he was pulling troops out of Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to his push to use troops to police the border and stem civil unrest on the streets of Washington.

In his first administration, Trump hewed toward what he considered strong military men and defense industry executives. Initially enamored with generals, Trump over time found them to be not loyal enough.

“He soured on them,” Cancian said. “They were not as pliable as he had thought. … I’ve heard people speculate that maybe the chairman would be fired. So that’s something to watch.”

Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, took over as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in October 2023 for a four-year term, but military leaders serve at the pleasure of the president. Brown, a combat pilot and just the second Black officer to serve as chairman, spoke out after the police killing of George Floyd, describing the bias he faced in his life and career.

Trump also is expected to choose someone as defense secretary with disdain for equity and diversity programs and less likely to counter his plans based on limits laid out in the Constitution and rule of law. But he also may well push for increased defense spending, at least initially, including on U.S. missile defense.

A key overriding concern is that Trump will select someone who won’t push back against potentially unlawful or dangerous orders or protect the military’s longstanding apolitical status.

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin raised that red flag. In a message to the force, he said the U.S. military stands ready to “obey all lawful orders from its civilian chain of command,” adding that troops swear an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

He echoed retired Army Gen. Mark Milley’s pronouncement during a speech as he closed out four years as chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

“We don’t take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”

Trump’s first defense chief, retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, learned quickly to stay off his boss’ radar by largely eliminating press conferences that Trump could see.

Mattis and Milley, along with Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly, a retired Marine general, and retired Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, who also served as Joint Chiefs chairman, all worked quietly behind the scenes to temper some of Trump’s decisions.

They stalled his demands that troops be quickly and completely withdrawn from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan and managed to prevent the use of active-duty troops to quell civil unrest in Washington.

Two years in, Mattis abruptly resigned in December 2018 in frustration over Trump’s national security policies, including a perceived disdain for allies and his demands to pull all troops out of Syria. Patrick Shanahan, the deputy defense secretary, took over as acting Pentagon chief but withdrew as the nominee six months later due to personal family problems that were made public.

Then-Army Secretary Mark Esper took over in an acting role, but he had to step aside briefly when nominated, so Navy Secretary Richard Spencer served as the acting chief until Esper was confirmed.

Esper was fired days after Trump lost the 2020 election, largely because the president did not believe him to be loyal enough. Trump was especially angry over Esper’s public opposition to invoking the two-centuries-old Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty troops in the District of Columbia during unrest following the police killing of George Floyd.

Trump named Christopher Miller, a retired Army officer who has been director of the National Counterterrorism Center, to serve as acting secretary and surrounded him with staunch loyalists.

That is the Pentagon that officials quietly say they expect to see in Trump’s new administration.