Swanton, Thomas

@JamesRaxz I admire people who can laugh at themselves. Third time was the charm: )

@SwantonTP I’m on a win streak today.

No. That would not be the Army Chief of Staff’s role. They have no operational authority. The ultimate authority for theater air defense falls is the Commander of CENTCOM, GEN Kurilla and below him the Combined Forces Air Component Commander, presently USAF Lt. Gen Derek France.

@JamesRaxz Admiral (sorry to be so pedantic).

CENTCOM commander is General Cooper of course. Brain fart.

On bashing the French and the British…a kind “Go pound sand” to the Fox News crowd who seems to have found their new talking point…so a quick note right here… that in my old world, both countries have been with us time and again. Actual professionals who have been in conflict-not DC creatures who were press secretaries like Ari-know the real deal. For example -the French military provided critical assistance to US SOF during a deadly ambush in Niger in 2017. Saved lives. In extremis. Huge appreciation from the US IC and SOF world. We know when friends come thru. Overall French CT efforts in Africa-who had the lead over us for many years- also helped save US lives. And don’t forget 90 French military were KIA in Afghanistan. That’s a pretty solid ally, when we were in a pinch. Next-US and British forces and intel r tied at the hip, but let’s focus in Afghanistan and Iraq. With 600 plus British KIA in both conflicts. 600 plus. This is all real sacrifice. British intel also on daily basis helps us wrap up terrorist networks, stop proliferation of WMD, better u detest and Russia, Iran, N Korea, and China, so many other massive value added they provide. A superb ally. Essential even. Finally, as Jonah notes, Trump is totally responsible for poisoning the alliance. European reluctance to assist is largely because Trump is so toxic it is politically impossible for other democracies-whose citizens loathe Trump to the core-to do anything other than give us the finger. So all said, as a former ntl security professional who got my hands dirty in our global escapades alongside these allies, I say thank u to them. Particularly!! the British and the French. Have a lovely day.

"God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth." One of my fondest childhood memories: the balletic launch, the moving message to all of humanity, the most beautiful photograph ever taken. nytimes.com/card/2026/04/0…

@sttngduck Dig a little deeper; this is BS.

Twenty-six generals and admirals in fourteen months. No misconduct cited for a single one. A former Fox News weekend host who never held a senior military command has removed the Joint Chiefs Chairman, the Army Chief of Staff, the commander of Army Transformation and Training, the Chief of Chaplains, and at least 22 other senior officers from the most powerful military on earth. He blocked four Army officers from promotion to brigadier general, two Black men and two women, by unilaterally striking their names from a list of 36. When Army Secretary Dan Driscoll refused to remove them, Hegseth did it himself. No hearing. No review board. No Senate consultation. The names were struck because the man who reads the list decided they should not be on it. The pattern is not random. It is architectural. Every removal serves the same function: shortening the distance between a presidential decision and its execution. The officers who remain are the ones who did not resist. The officers who resisted are gone. The replacement for the Army Chief of Staff is Vice Chief General Christopher LaNeve, who served as Hegseth’s personal military aide. The man who carried the briefcase now signs the orders. The chain of command has been rebuilt so that every link answers directly to the man who removed the previous link. General Randy George was the commander of the United States Army’s ground forces. That title matters now in a way it did not matter six weeks ago. Before February 28, ground forces in Iran were a theoretical exercise discussed in war colleges and think tanks. After five weeks of air strikes, with the IRGC publishing bridge target lists across four allied nations, with the President saying the military has “not even started” destroying what remains, with MEUs staged in the Gulf and the 82nd Airborne deploying and JSOC operators at forward bases in four countries, the ground option is no longer theoretical. It is a logistics package. And the man whose job was to assess whether that package should be opened was told to retire the same day the President posted “much more to follow.” Lieutenant General Hodne ran the command that trains every soldier who would execute a ground operation. Major General Green led the chaplain corps that would minister to every soldier who dies in one. George decided whether the operation should happen. Hodne prepared the soldiers to carry it out. Green prepared them to live with it. All three were removed on the same afternoon. Congress has not held a hearing. No subpoenas issued. The legal authority for a Defence Secretary to unilaterally override promotion lists and force immediate retirement of Senate-confirmed officers during wartime has not been tested because nobody with the authority to question it has chosen to. The IRGC has said attacks will “intensify from next week.” The Ford carrier is heading back. The CNN intelligence assessment confirms half of Iran’s launchers and thousands of drones remain. The President has named the next targets: power plants, desalination, oil wells, Kharg Island. And every general who might have said “this crosses a line” is already gone. Twenty-six officers. Zero misconduct findings. One question that every general still serving is asking behind closed doors: who is left to say no? And what happens when the answer is nobody? open.substack.com/pub/shanakaans…

@KenGardner11 5. And without their current overflight agreements and basing permissions, this operation would be impossible

@KenGardner11 1. Maybe if we had coherent and consistent objectives and plans, that would help. 2. Based on polling the war is unpopular here. 3. Some pre-attack diplomacy would have helped. 4. Failing that, diplomacy now and not insults would help.

Re-upping this yet again, this time with emphasis on my last point. My concern is that the same European nations who have refused to help us will wait for Trump to stop and then go cut a deal with the IRG to let their ships through in exchange for payments. Because they suck.