America's top military leaders could be under intense scrutiny, when the President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
According to a draft proposal seen by the Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration is considering the creation of a so-called "Warrior Board," which would review the nation's top generals and decide whether or not to keep them.
"As officers in the military, we all serve at the pleasure of the President," said retired Maj. General John Altenburg, who served as deputy judge advocate general of the U.S. Army and now lectures at the George Washington University School of Law.
He said the creation of a "Warrior Board" would likely be legal, but it also comes with risk.
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"We see people all the time, you know, are relieved of command because their superiors lost confidence in their ability," Altenburg said. "So, that's possible, that's always possible. And that's quite frankly always legal. The policy issue is, 'Do we think it's a good idea to do it?'"
Critics of the plan worry it could politicize the military. During the presidential campaign, Trump said he wanted to purge the military of generals who supported diversity, as well as any who were involved in the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, a Pentagon spokesperson said dismissing numerous officers could potentially put a strain on the military.
"Removing holding officers from moving up or not having people in place and therefore having other people fill a job that - you know, maybe they're doing two jobs, maybe they're doing three jobs - yes, that's going to have an impact to operations, that's going to have an impact to morale and that is going to have an impact on the department," said U.S. Department of Defense deputy spokesperson Sabrina Singh.
President-elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has been critical of the Pentagon and what he calls "woke" generals. Those comments — and the Warrior board proposal — will likely come up if there's a Senate confirmation hearing for him.
