Retired officers: Sec. of Defense has violated his oath

FPI / July 5, 2021

By ordering the teaching of Marxist critical race theory in the military, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is endangering America's national security and is in violation of his oath to protect and defend the Constitution, a petition signed by several retired military officers said.

The petition from the Committee to Support & Defend "respectfully insists" that Austin immediately countermand orders he has issued since heading up the Pentagon under Team Biden that have eroded military cohesion and readiness.

It was the third time since Jan. 21, 2021 that retired U.S. military officers have gone public about the Pentagon's direction under the administration of Team Biden.

The petition demands that Austin take immediate action to:

• Shut down the Countering Extremism Working Group, which is fracturing the cohesiveness of the armed forces.

• Fire the working group's director, Bishop Garrison, senior adviser for diversity and inclusion, whose programs vilify our Constitution and are an affront to patriotic Americans.

• Prohibit further Critical Race Theory training and related programs to the armed forces personnel; these are Marxist tactics designed to pit one group against another by falsely teaching that our country is inherently racist, with whites as the oppressor and blacks as the oppressed.

• Reinstate a brilliant officer, Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier — who has warned against actual extremism in the Defense Department — as the commander of the 11th Space Warning Group.

• Restore to service other personnel who have been wrongly accused of "extremism" but who are, like Lohmeier, simply opponents of anti-constitutional ideologies like Marxism.

The first signatory of the petition and founding member of Flag Officers for America, Maj. Gen. Joe Arbuckle, U.S. Army (ret.), stated:

"Critical Race Theory and other such programs were created by Marxists to divide people into groups based on oppressors vs. oppressed. It is designed to sow discord and distrust in each other. This is exactly the opposite of the team building based on the mutual trust essential to military units' readiness and deterrent effectiveness. If allowed to continue the in the Defense Department, CRT and other such divisive programs will do tremendous damage to our military, its mission, and therefore, our Nation. Like me and countless other veterans, Secretary Ausitn has sworn to prevent such harm to our Constitution and country. We call on him to honor the oath and shut down the indoctrination and purging of our armed forces pursuant to Marxist Critical Race Theory."

In May, a group of retired generals and admirals issued a letter that stated that the United States is facing the "greatest danger to our constitutional Republic since 1776." The letter stated that our nation is in "deep peril" as we fight the supporters of Marxism who are opposed to our constitutional freedoms and liberties.

Last week, the Committee to Support & Defend, led by Lt. Col. Allen West (ret.), issued a letter signed by over 1,000 military veterans that stated that, as veterans, they are still morally and ethically bound to protect our Constitution and country.

They wrote: "As such, we put our nation's leadership on notice. We believe that the hard left turn toward Socialism and Marxism endangers our citizens and the future of this great nation…We are disgusted by the dismantling of the rule of law in our great country. We never thought we would see the return to Vietnam style disdain for public service. Unfortunately, this disregard and disrespect is corrosive and will lead to dangerous situations for citizens and law enforcement."

Free Press International