‘Bright Red Light’ in Quantico: What Will Transpire?

All 800 generals and admirals have been summoned

Marine Corps Base at Quantico, 2014, public domain

Tomorrow, September 30 — it will be a Tuesday — the U.S. generals and admirals will converge upon the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. Brigadier generals and above…all eight hundred (approximately) must attend in person.

Trump already fired top military lawyers who might constrain his power; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired a hundred generals and admirals some months ago, and he has fired leaders of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Navy Reserve, and the Naval Special Warfare Command.

For what it’s worth, Trump and Hegseth now speak of the Department of War, although, insofar as Congress has not been involved in the name change, it remains the Department of Defense.

“My historian colleagues might correct me, but I do not think anyone at least in recent history,” Timothy Snyder wagers, “has done what Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is about to do: put all of the American generals and admirals from around the world into a single room (next week, in Virginia) just to say something to them.”

“The highly unusual summit was announced on short notice and no reason was given,” Julia Conley writes for Common Dreams, “to military commanders and other leaders…