Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefs the media on Afghanistan, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Aug. 18, 2021. (DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando)

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

WASHINGTON   DC  –   The Biden Pentagon is defending the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley who made two secret phone calls to his counterpart in China’s People’s Liberation Army at the end of President Trump’s presidency.  In the new book “Peril,” Watergate journalist Bob Woodward and co-author Robert Costa claim the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff circumvented former President Trump and his authority because he was worried about Trump’s stability. According to the book, Gen. Milley told senior military officials to clear any military strike decisions by Trump with him.  However,  Pentagon’s press secretary John Kirby said “it is completely appropriate for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as the senior military advisor to both the Secretary and the President to want to see those protocols reviewed on whatever frequent basis that he wants to do that.”  Kirby made the comments during a press briefing at the Pentagon Wednesday.

(Photo by Gary Raynaldo / © Diplomatic Times)  Pentagon press secretary John Kirby briefs reporters at the Pentagon in Washington D.C.

“But, I would add, if I may, again that it is not only common, it’s expected that a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would continue to have counterpart conversations.I mean, he is basically the chief of defense for the United States — we don’t call him that, but he has chief of defense counterparts around the world. And having worked for a Chairman myself for quite a bit, I can tell you frequent communication with two countries like Russia and China is not atypical at all for a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. And those communications are — they’re routine, they’re staffed, they’re coordinated, and they’re transparent — as transparent as they can be.”

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby Sept. 15, 2021

Republicans Accuse Gen.  Milley of  ‘Treason”  For calls with China -Demand He Be Fired 

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to President  Biden calling on him to immediately fire Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley. 

“I write with grave concern regarding recent reporting that General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, worked to actively undermine the sitting Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces and contemplated a treasonous leak of classified information to the Chinese Communist Party in advance of a potential armed conflict with the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” Rubio wrote. “These actions by General Milley demonstrate a clear lack of sound judgement, and I urge you to dismiss him immediately.”