Chris Van Hollen: “I oppose changing the law to allow a recently retired general to serve as Secretary of Defense. While I admire Gen…”

“I oppose changing the law to allow a recently retired general to serve as Secretary of Defense. While I admire Gen, Mattis and I am grateful for his decades of service to our Nation, I believe that, except in a national emergency, we should abide by the longstanding principle of civilian control of the military enshrined in the National Security Act. Civilian control of the military is a fundamental tenet of our American democracy. It was in Annapolis, MD that General George Washington resigned his military commission in 1783, after leading the Continental Army to secure America's independence. Washington believed that our new Nation could survive only with civilian leadership. Five years later, Washington returned to serve the Nation, as a civilian, as our first President. George Washington's example has been embodied in the statutory requirements of the National Security Act. George C. Marshall, nominated by President Truman in 1950, was the only Secretary of Defense for whom Congress enacted an exception. In enacting the exception for General Marshall, Congress expressly emphasized that: ``the authority granted by this Act is not to be construed as approval by the Congress of continuing appointments of military men to the office of Secretary of Defense in the future.…”