Military-Civilian Relations Quotes

The Constitution calls for civilian control of the military and I am a civilian.

When former Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote his recent book, 'Duty', it was full of tough assessments and candor.

A key to McMaster's thinking is his 1997 book, 'Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies that Led to Vietnam.'

Many U.S. military bases are located in northern Okinawa and a number of drills are conducted there. We'll work with the U.S. military to ensure that effects on local communities are kept to the minimum.

The disconnect between America and its military is shocking.

…the War Department was…something that stood between the Army and Congress; that way to get legislation for the Army was no to try to educate Congress and the people to Army methods, but to educate the War Department to congressional methods.

Any effort which wittingly or unwittingly draws a wedge between the people and Armed Forces of Pakistan undermines the larger national interest.

Since far fewer people are recruited to serve in a voluntary military, the connection between America and its military is increasingly tenuous and less personal.

Soldiers and peasants lived together on friendly terms; they knew each other and their everyday routines, and trusted each other; they shook their heads together over the war.

We have to begin having the State Department in on joint plans so that our foreign policy and military plans would be in step …. I will not go along with the past practice of not informing the State Department as to Army and Navy joint plans ...

I respect the Forces... but civil services also have a contribution to make. They are there to bridge administration with Forces. They are critical, and I give credit to them. I don't claim to have done miracles in bridging it, but I have just said the two lines can go parallel.

President Zardari came to power just as the global recession hit. He had to cobble together an unruly coalition, put up with a constant assault from a conservative supreme court who sought to undermine him at every term. This does not include dealing with Pakistani's omnipotent establishment and the menace of terrorism.

With the all-volunteer military, we, as a society, have become disconnected from our armed forces. And our military, like almost everything else in our country, has been outsourced.

What's brilliant about the United States system of government is separation of power. Not only the executive, legislative, judicial branches, but also the independence of the military from civilians, an independent media and press, an independent central bank.

Some 70% to 80% of all who join the military will return to the civilian workforce. They'll return to communities, and one of the things I've worried about is the increasing disconnect between the American people and our men and women in uniform. We come from fewer and fewer places. We're less than 1% of the population.