The most recent in an exodus of the government’s top leaders and lawyers over the past 18 months is the top legal counsel to the seat of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the deputy defense adviser to President Donald Trump and protection secretary Pete Hegseth.
Brig. Generic Widmar stated to ProPublica that he did so” for personal factors” and that he did not take his decision to retire quietly.
My wife and I discussed the needs of this position earlier this year, which have required me to live alone from my family for the past two decades and have presented more challenges for both that and my household,” Widmar said in an emailed statement. I made the decision after much thought that my home should be at the center of my life and that we should concentrate on our next adventure.
Widmar’s exit follows that of Gen. Chris” C. D.” Donahue, the head of Army forces in Europe and Africa, announced earlier this month, way through the common name, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, who is currently serving a year and a half behind the usual four-year expression, and Admiral Alvin Holsey, who led Southern Command, which is directing the contentious aircraft attacks on ships in the Caribbean, with two years left in his name. Widmar’s departure comes in the wake of Hegseth’s next year’s sackings of major attorneys for the Army, Air Force, and Navy.
One top ranking former judge advocate, a defense lawyer, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal, said,” A man in that position is a rising star. He’s undoubtedly well-known in the legitimate field and well-thought-of and trusted. It’s a very significant work.
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Military experts and former and current senior military officers described Widmar’s early retirement from such a vile position as a significant departure from military history and as particularly troubling because it was a pattern of well-known senior leadership leaving under Hegseth with much justification. Legitimate advisors and uniformed military leadership are typically in place across all levels of government to maintain the government’s commitment to impartial professionalism.
According to Kori Schake, a top brother at the American Enterprise Institute, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C.,” that is decades of high-priced skills that are being cashiered without any reason why their company was untenable.” It fosters a sense of authority wherein some people are reluctant to take action. And that’s how nations often lose war.
Gen. Dan Caine, the joint chiefs ‘ chair, thanked Widmar for his “remarkable” service in a statement stating that he is “deeply respected and admired by everyone.” We will miss his lawful counsel, his extraordinary experience, and his knowledge of our duty to deliver the truth to all that is in the hands of the government.
Hegseth emailed the Pentagon for post, but the agency did not respond.
According to experts on military personnel issues and former and current top positioning officers, the departures raise important questions that Congress ought to be asking of all important leaders who are leaving the current setting.
” What is striking is how far Congress has allowed Hegseth to go in shaping the force without demanding a clear explanation of what he’s doing,” said Duke University professor of political science Peter Feaver, who has long taught senior ranking officers the importance of using retirement or resignation to stoke public outcry.
Widmar, a West Point graduate who advised operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, leaves after more than 28 years in the service. Prior to his most recent position, he served as Central Command’s staff judge advocate for Middle Eastern and Asian interests.
In 2024, the Senate appointed Widmar as its legal representative to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Lt. Gen. Joseph Berger III, the Army’s then-top attorney, praised his” strategic vision and moral courage” in an announcement made at the time.
Hegseth has since fired Berger.
The article Top Legal Adviser to Joint Chiefs Resigned Nearly a Year Before Term Was Completed first appeared on ProPublica.
