‘Optics Look Bad’: Top Generals Still Quarantined As US Repeatedly Assures Of ‘Military Readiness’

With all eyes on the impending election, and further as the White House has scrambled to contain the coronavirus outbreak within top administration ranks which drove world headlines after Trump’s brief hospital stint, it’s easy to forget that a major Pentagon crisis has also unfolded due to the pandemic. 

As of Monday it remains that six of the seven of members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are still quarantining at home. This marks one full week since all among the Joint Chiefs except for the Commandant of the Marine Corps, who was not exposed, went into voluntary quarantine. 

The Department of Defense took a moment on Sunday to remind the public and the world that “military readiness has not been affected,” The Hill reported. Starting last week the Joint Chiefs have issued repeat assurances that operations and defense readiness are not in doubt. 

“There has been no impact on our ability to effectively plan, coordinate and synchronize efforts to defend our nation,” Milley recently emphasized.

The prior Monday after Coast Guard Vice Commandant Adm. Charles Ray tested positive, Milley became the highest ranking US commander to take the unprecedented step of isolating at home due to at least two meetings where Ray was present.

Democrats and the media are blaming what they call Trump’s “recklessness”. And some conservatives are pointing out that repeat Pentagon “assurances” of readiness actually point to the opposite, given even routine meetings in high secure Pentagon areas simply aren’t taking place, and further despite the cadre of top commanders all residing on military bases, it remains they are limited in terms of taking classified information or files home with them, or what ‘real-time’ intelligence might be usually available in high secure defense HQs like the Pentagon.

There has been no impact on our ability to effectively plan, coordinate and synchronize efforts to defend our nation.” (2/2)

— The Joint Staff 🇺🇸 (@thejointstaff) October 8, 2020

Newsmax cites on such critic in its latest update:

Mackenzie Eaglen, a former congressional adviser on defense now with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said, however, “there is no way to make the optics look better,” saying the various statements put out by the military “signals that they are worried about the projection of even the perception of weakness.”

Consider too that if the same thing happened with China or Russia (a scenario in which their top chain of command were into quarantine for a week or more), Washington and international media would certainly see it as a significant moment of vulnerability.