Newly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday canceled the personal security detail assigned to retired Gen. Mark Milley, following his boss President Trump’s decision to revoke protection for his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton and Iran envoy Brian Hook.
That the Trump administration is doing so despite continued specific threats against their lives from the Islamic Republic of Iran is dangerous and short-sighted — and should be reversed without delay.
What is going on here?
In January 2020, Trump authorized a military strike in Iraq that killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.
Soleimani was “responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more,” according to the Pentagon.
“Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him,” Trump said at the time.
The Islamic Republic of Iran was not happy that its chief exporter of terrorism had been taken off the battlefield.
A few days later, it launched a salvo of ballistic missiles at two bases in northern Iraq, resulting in traumatic brain injuries for more than 100 American troops.
But the regime in Tehran was not satisfied.
Since then, it has repeatedly made clear that it wants to kill numerous senior American leaders involved in the Soleimani strike, including Trump himself.
As a US president, Trump enjoys world-class protection for life.
The same cannot be said for Pompeo, Bolton, Milley and Hook.
When reporters asked about his decision last week, Trump was shockingly dismissive.
“When you have protection, you can’t have it for the rest of your life,” he shrugged, apparently oblivious to the fact that he himself has just such lifetime security.
Trump may not fully appreciate the degree to which the murderous Iranian regime and its supporters are patient.
In 1989, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering the death of author Salman Rushdie for what he had published the year prior in his novel “The Satanic Verses.”
More than 30 years later, in August 2022, Rushdie was repeatedly stabbed as he was about to give a lecture.
The assailant’s indictment alleged he was trying to carry out Khomeini’s fatwa.
When it comes to former US government officials, what matters is not the amount of time elapsed, but whether they remain in danger for actions they took in the course of their official duties, as they carried out the direction of their commander-in-chief.
If the danger to a fellow citizen and former official remains, the protection should remain in place. Period.
Some might argue that the threat to these individuals is inflated.
That seems to be Trump’s view.
“I mean there are risks to everything,” he said dismissively.
That response demonstrates an ignorance of the danger to these former officials, a callous disregard for their safety, or worse.
Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas and hardly an anti-Trump partisan, disagrees with any suggestion that the threat is inflated.
“As the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, I’ve reviewed the intelligence in the last few days,” Cotton told Fox News on Sept. 26.
“The threat to anyone involved in President Trump’s strike on Qassem Soleimani is persistent. It’s real. Iran is committed to vengeance against all of these people.”
In December, the State Department notified Congress that the threats against Pompeo and Hook were “serious and credible” and warranted continued government-provided security.
So, if the threat remains, what is really going on?
The answer is clear, and it is lamentable: President Trump does not like some of the comments these individuals have made.
Mr. President, if you don’t like what these individuals have said, explain why you think they are wrong — or better yet, move on and focus your energies instead on your policy agenda to help Americans and improve our country.
But whatever you do, please don’t help the terrorist regime in Tehran and put our fellow citizens in danger.
Such a decision is beneath the office you hold.
If they are injured or killed, Mr. President, you will be the one person responsible — and that would be a black mark against you that time will not erase.
Mr. President, our enemy is Iran, not citizens with whom we disagree.
We hope you will remember that fact, and rescind this dangerous order, before it is too late.
Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark Montgomery is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Bradley Bowman serves as senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power.