Bloomberg Surveillance · Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Admiral Dennis Blair strongly criticizes the current administration's interference in the military officer promotion system, calling it "terrible." He argues that arbitrary changes to selection boards' decisions, without clear explanations, lead to a politicized and less competent senior officer corps.
“And I think that the interference in the promotion system is terrible by the current administration led by the Secretary of Defense. It's applying criteria which are not the most important ones, which are how well officers have done in their operational jobs and how much potentially have for the future that's best known by their peers who make up the selection boards that choose them. And to take the results of those selection boards and arbitrarily change them for reasons that are never explained or announced. Both gives us a politicized, less competent senior officer corps and discourages the many people of talent but diverse backgrounds, which has always been the American strength.”