President Trump has routinely kept the Defense Department out of the loop in administration decisions that seem to cause confusion and throw into doubt where the United States stands on national security issues.
Since Trump took office a year and a half ago, Pentagon officials have been blindsided by sudden policy change announcements including the military’s transgender ban, threats to nations including Syria, Iran and North Korea and moves to create entire new military branches such as the Space Force.
Defense Secretary James Mattis and other Pentagon officials have sought to downplay any lack of coordination, blaming the news cycle for hyping an overblown story.
But internal emails released this week have given a glimpse into the Pentagon’s frenzied response to an unforeseen tweet from Trump or statement from the White House.
Those Pentagon emails — obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the watchdog group Democracy Forward — show that the White House did not coordinate with or notify DoD officials before it released a 2017 statement warning the Syrian government it would “pay a heavy price” if it conducted another chemical weapons attack.
The narrow channels of communication between the White House and Pentagon are all the more startling when it comes to major global events, including the summit in Singapore between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which have major implications that ripple outward across the globe.
At that meeting, which Mattis did not attend, Trump reportedly shocked Pentagon officials as well as ally countries when he agreed to temporarily halt military drills on the Korean peninsula in exchange for continued talks on a denuclearized North Korea.
And weeks after the Helsinki summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, defense officials still struggle to articulate what supposed “verbal agreements” were made between the two that might affect the military.
Frustrated with the lack of coordination, Mattis has drafted a letter to national security adviser John Bolton to request that he hold more meetings between White House officials and department heads to “to smooth the bubble” on tricky issues, a senior administration official told Politico this week.
Here are the major times the Pentagon appeared to have been caught off guard by Trump.
July 22: Trump’s Iran tweet
Trump on Monday tweeted an all-caps threat to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, telling him to “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”
Trump administration officials appeared reluctant to clarify the unexpected tweet, but Mattis said a day later that it was meant to make clear to Tehran “that they’re on the wrong track.”
Neither Mattis nor Pentagon spokespeople have said whether the military would be adjusting its forces in the region to deal with any fallout from Trump’s tweet, including bolstering protections.
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Pentagon routinely blindsided by Trump's abrupt policy decisions https://t.co/7tUeYOiDOC pic.twitter.com/tYwFTesCva
— The Hill (@thehill) July 29, 2018
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