A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Donald Trump has dismissed several top military officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News Sunday why Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. was ousted from his leadership job.
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PETE HEGSETH: I have a lot of respect for C.Q. Brown. I got to know him over the course of a month. He's an honorable man. Not the right man for the moment.
MARTÍNEZ: Joining us to discuss these developments is Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Senator, you've called these firings the beginning of a serious degradation of the military. What did you mean by that?
JACK REED: Well, this is unprecedented. These people were selected based on merit. They are seasoned professionals with many commands and a range of experiences, and they were dismissed, I think, for political reasons. They - this administration wants to dominate the Department of Defense that's subservient to the president, not obedient to the Constitution. And that is profoundly wrong. And in addition to the firing of these general officers, the secretary of defense also fired the judge advocate generals of all the military services, which is a very shocking development. In fact, I think it signals the fact that he intends not to follow the law. If you're going to break the law, the first thing you do is get rid of the lawyers who will tell you about the law. So we're seeing an unprecedented transformation of common sense. It will affect progress. It will affect recruitment. I will attract retention, and it...
MARTÍNEZ: Right.
REED: ...Will be a disservice to the country.
MARTÍNEZ: And I want to ask you about that. Just one thing, though, on Charles Q. Brown. He had until September 2027 left in his term. So three more years or at least three years into President Trump's final term as president. So why shouldn't a president - especially in President Trump's situation - not have his own leadership team around him for as long as he has left?
REED: Well, one of the aspects of our professional military and one of the things that contribute to its success is, one, individual chosen on merit. And, two, there's a sense of continuity that the military services are not agents of the president. They are protectors of the nation and the Constitution. And Trump and Hegseth has thrown that out the window. Not surprisingly, Trump is ignoring the laws left and right, but this will have a serious impact on the military, very much so.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, we mentioned military readiness and trust the chain of command. How do these moves affect that?
REED: Well, I think, frankly, there's a lot of people looking around now and saying, am I next? What do I have to do to avoid being terminated from my life's career? And I think the implication of all of this, well, you better toe the party line and do - don't object to things and agree even though you have - your military opinion differs. So this will affect the whole body of the military, particularly the officer corps.
MARTÍNEZ: So you really think the top military leaders would actually not tell the truth or at least speak their heart, even if they feel that something is not quite right, just to save their jobs?
REED: Well, I think the principles of the military are such that they would want to do that. But again, you're putting on a significant new dynamic, which is, if you don't say the right thing, you could be dismissed or you could just simply just be dismissed because they just, for some reason, don't like you regardless of your professional skills. And that's very troubling. It's indeed very troubling.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, when it comes to Gen. Brown - was only the second Black Joint Chiefs chairman - Navy Admiral Lisa Franchetti - first woman to lead a military service - how does that affect recruitment and retention?
REED: Well, I think it has everyone shocked. And particularly officers who are minorities or females and enlisted personnel, too. The core of our military is a noncommissioned officer corps, and many of those men and women are not - they're looking at this and saying, frankly, am I next? So this has a serious implication on recruitment and retention, as I said before.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's Senator Jack Reed, ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Senator, thank you very much for speaking with us.
REED: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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