The Pentagon is in “disarray,” and its efforts to punish U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) are a prime example, argues Ryan Burke, a professor of military and strategic studies, writing at Just Security.
Burke says that despite a federal judge ruling that the Defense Department could not punish Kelly, a retired Navy Captain, for his part in a video telling military service members to not obey illegal orders, Secretary Hegseth “reportedly ordered [former Secretary of the Navy John Phelan] to ignore the order and issue punishment to the retired Navy captain anyway.”
Calling the Pentagon’s case against Kelly “empty” and the video “a manufactured scandal built on hollow ground,” Burke writes, “the harder the Department of Defense tries to sculpt it into something meaningful, the faster it crumbles.”
The bottom line, Burke argues, is that the Pentagon “is trying to force a hypothetical into a legal reality,” and yet, “the fact remains: Senator Kelly – or any of the ‘Seditious Six’ – cannot incite disobedience to orders not given.”
The lawmakers who made the video are not part of the military’s chain of command, Burke writes. They “have no authoritative basis to instruct troops to do anything,” and therefore could not “cause mutiny.”
“As such, Hegseth’s threats to recall Kelly to active duty to face courts martial is baseless folly,” Burke argues.
Even if Kelly had encouraged disobedience from service members, “words alone are insufficient to prove causality.”
A central tenet of American democracy is that the legislative branch provides oversight, Burke explains. Civilian oversight is at the core of America’s “defense structure.” Lawmakers have every right and responsibility to speak about matters of interest, and the Pentagon cannot “insulate” itself and place itself above “scrutiny.”
“Instead of projecting strength, the Pentagon now projects insecurity and attempts to silence and punish anyone within its ranks who openly disagrees with leadership,” Burke writes.
The bottom line for Burke is, “after all the noise, we are left with the same conclusion: there is no there, there.”