JOHN TEICHERT: Snapping Back Our National Security Culture To Its Proper Place

The current U.S. national security enterprise has shamefully failed to meet the needs of the American people for the last four years. Insidious cultural changes have eroded the effectiveness of national power and undermined the essential underpinnings of safety, security and strength.

The arrival of the second Trump administration comes at a pivotal time to reverse these dangerous cultural trends; snapping back military and national security culture to its proper place. Doing so starts with a return to constitutionally grounded, mission-focused and merit-based institutions.

Despite governmental growth in elements of society that exceed constitutional constraints, national security is one of the few constitutionally prescribed federal functions. Supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States provides a higher calling for all who volunteer to serve, and the oath taken by our military members contains no expiration dates, contingency clauses, fine print or opt-out provisions.

While meant for a lifetime by military volunteers, the Biden administration has diminished its poignancy and potency.

Anti-American rhetoric and unconstitutional actions by Biden administration have worked at cross purposes with recruiting and retention, while breaking faith with our force for the last four years. Political and military leaders have prompted plummeting trust that tragically impacts the pipeline for the next generation. Misguided and ruinous vaccine mandates and un-American policies have gutted the force, driving away heroes, strong leaders and highly-trained talent, while erecting barriers to entry that span generations.

Eighty-thousand impacted veterans have mobilized to help the institutions reembrace a constitutional foundation that has been so disastrously disregarded under the Biden administration, standing up against actions that have radically wrecked bodily autonomy and run roughshod over reasonable religious accommodations. The force is desperate to regain its constitutionally based purpose, meaning and protections.

U.S. strength of capability and will have eroded precipitously over the last four years. The alluring weakness and dangerous distraction of the Biden administration have made the world a more dangerous place, driving escalatory cycles in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Western Pacific. The botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 set a precedent that has enticed aggressors and inflamed malign activity around the planet.

The situation in America’s backyard has similarly exuded weakness as adversaries take advantage of U.S. distraction. The multi-faceted crisis caused by open-border policies has prompted severe national security concerns, with even President Joe Biden’s FBI recognizing the flashing warning signals that indicate imminent threats.

Additionally, the Chinese Communist Party continues to steal hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. intellectual property a year, establish communist clubs on college campuses, flood dark money into U.S. institutions, support Chinese police stations in U.S. cities, hack into U.S. telecommunication backbones, and embed into key western infrastructure systems.

Meanwhile, as the world unravels, Biden’s national security enterprise has shunned a focus on lethality in favor of social engineering and other elements of cultural composition. Radical DEI experimentation in the Pentagon has created distraction and complacency, pitting groups against one another instead of against the growing slate of adversaries around the planet. The results have also eroded deterrence and brought into question the capabilities that provide the mainstay of international order in support of American interests.

The misguided Biden administration has promoted ideology over lethality and quotas over quality. A rapid return to mission-focus by American national security institutions would be embraced by members of the past, present and future force while restoring the strength that serves as the lynchpin of meeting U.S. objectives around the world.

The meritocratic reputation of the military has served the United States well throughout its history. While dignity and respect among the force have always been critical components of a culture of competence, the drift away from exclusively elevating merit has created severe challenges with good order and discipline while eroding the effectiveness of the force. A military promotion system that has diverged from alignment with the core values of a merit-based military has created institutional conditions that make it less able to recruit and retain, while falling short in requirements for lethality, capability and flexibility.

Foundational Joint and Service documents already exist that clearly and succinctly spell out the necessary characteristics for members of the profession of arms. Yet, these have recently been underutilized and often ignored as key components of developing the personnel that make up the backbone of national security.

Every performance report, promotion recommendation form, award package, and decoration recommendation must re-align with elements of merit-based criteria that have been painstakingly codified into core military documents to ensure that competency once again becomes the cornerstone of culture and force composition.

The Trump administration is well-poised to reverse the backsliding of the American national security posture that has been profoundly harmful to U.S. interests and objectives. It starts with a relentlessly focused leadership and resurrected culture that emphasizes constitutionally grounded, mission-focused and merit-based institutions.

There is a positive and pervasive buzz in military circles about a culture that is on the verge of snapping back to strength, priority and focus that are aligned with U.S. values. The force will relish a rapid return to national security institutions that are properly placed to achieve American interests.

United States Air Force Brigadier General John Teichert (ret) is a prolific author and a leading expert on foreign affairs and military strategy. He served as Commander of Joint Base Andrews and Edwards Air Force Base, was the U.S. senior defense official to Iraq, and recently retired as the assistant deputy undersecretary of the Air Force, international affairs. Gen. Teichert maintains a robust schedule of international-level media engagements. His activities can be followed at johnteichert.com and on LinkedIn, and he can be reached at [email protected].

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.