I have always been a proponent of going straight to the source for information, but apparently not everyone else is. Admiral Mullen has penned an open letter in the new issue of Joint Forces Quarterly that has grown legs. It has been summarized in several publications and I’ve seen several Google Alerts about it. The problem is that some people rely on what others say about the letter rather than read it for themselves.

What Admiral Mullen says is that military personnel, especially those on active duty, should keep their politics to themselves. I agree. Military personnel are most certainly citizens but they are to carry out the policies of those elected by the American people. That was my position when Bill Clinton was president and it is my position now that George Bush I president. If those in uniform become too political, and express those opinions too openly, especially the senior officers, then we undermine the civilian control of military.

Admiral Mullen’s letter is available on the web, you only need Google Joint Forces Quarterly and you can find it. However, the New York Times also wrote about the article and some people chose to read the NYT’s opinion rather than read the source directly. On such person is Samuel at Gilgal.

Sam blogged an article entitled Do You Give Up Your Rights When You Join the Military. Sam states “But is this “apolitical” view of individuals in the military historically correct? According to President George Washington, “When we assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen.” Washington’s words indicate that the individual does not give up his inalienable Constitutional rights when he puts on the uniform of the United States military.” I mention this only because in the original article Admiral Mullen himself says “I am not suggesting that military professionals abandon all personal opinions about modern social or political issues. Nor would I deny them the opportunity to vote or discuss . . . or even to debate those issues among themselves. We are first and foremost citizens of this great country, and as such have a right to participate in the democratic process. As George Washington
himself made clear, we did not stop being citizens when we started being Soldiers.”

Now I ask, does that read like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is asking military personnel to “give up their Constitutional rights”? Doesn’t sound like that to me, at all.

But of course, I would never imply that the New York Times has an agenda or shows their bias.