It is the duty of every officer to disobey illegal orders. That is true no matter who is in the White House. The question then becomes, "what is illegal?"
In Military Ethics at West Point, we were taught that an officer should be prepared to resign rather than carry out orders that violate his conscience. If General Hyten doesn't want to obey lawful orders from the POTUS that he finds distasteful, he can resign or face a court martial. All that said, the general seems to have shown a stunning lack of judgment here. I haven't seen the precise text of the question posed (even though I saw his response). But the point of the question appears to be to get the general to undermine the moral authority of the Commander-in-Chief. And by playing into it, he helped the President's domestic enemies (and yes, "enemies" is the right word).
Well, resignation is a paper process that takes weeks or months. Getting an order and saying “I resign” is not a workable solution to not obeying.
Of course, we are supposed to ask “General, do mean for me to launch target package Alpha or the whole freaking alphabet?” “Oh, of course Colonel, I meant target Alpha.”
Asking for clarification is fine, if there is time. Refusing outright is a crime, even if the order is illegal/improper, you’ll be relieved, arrested and charged for a few felony level crimes. Your second will be commanded to execute and he will.
If one feels so strongly that they cannot legally/morally execute the order, then you must be willing to fall on your saber, so speak, and take what comes.
“But the point of the question appears to be to get the general to undermine the moral authority of the Commander-in-Chief. And by playing into it, he helped the President’s domestic enemies “:
Good point. Very good point.
Also we are facing revolts at State, FBI, DOJ, DEA, USCG, and now USAF. All seem to think they have the ability to SET policy rather than execute it.
In the 1950s under Lemay, much ability in wartime to go nuclear was left with the generals. They resented it when JFK made serious moves to consolidate that power into the presidency.
I’m sure the mandarins running the USAF strategic command think they should have the final say.
And once again, this bozo should have never been out doing Q & A and giving speeches about his duties. Any enemy should be as much in the dark as possible about how it could happen and where to attack that chain of command.
He should be immediately fired.
I’m not sure that the General ever took a course in “military ethics”. He’s a Haaavad grad.
Gen. John E. Hyten is Commander of U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), one of nine Unified Commands under the Department of Defense. USSTRATCOM is responsible for the global command and control of U.S. strategic forces to meet decisive national security objectives, providing a broad range of strategic capabilities and options for the President and Secretary of Defense.
General Hyten attended Harvard University on an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship, graduated in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering and applied sciences and was commissioned a second lieutenant. General Hyten’s career includes assignments in a variety of space acquisition and operations positions. He served in senior engineering positions on both Air Force and Army anti-satellite weapon system programs.
The general’s staff assignments include tours with the Air Force Secretariat, the Air Staff, the Joint Staff and the Commander’s Action Group at Headquarters Air Force Space Command as Director. He served as mission director in Cheyenne Mountain and was the last active-duty commander of the 6th Space Operations Squadron at Offutt AFB, Nebraska.