"…I’m the principal advisor-military advisor to the president. And I took this job, obviously, under President Bush. And I knew it would be a time of transition. And I’m-very critical to me is that the military be the apolitical organization we are. And the politics become the politics. We serve the president, whoever that is. Men and women who serve know that and we serve President Obama every bit as much as we served President Bush."
(January 06, 2010, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, New York City, NY)
"The military must remain apolitical and must always observe, indeed hold sacred, the principle of civilian control of the military. We execute policy. We do not make it or advocate for it. And once the decision is made, we move out. That’s what our military does, and we do it well."
(July 01, 2009, Joint Force Quarterly)
"Our military is apolitical, is neutral, and essentially follows the will of the people, as represented by who we elect and what we’re going to do."
(June 20, 2009, National Association of the Collegiate Directors of Athletics, Orlando, Fla. )
"We must remain a neutral instrument of national power; apolitical in all that we do and mindful of the greater interests of the country even when, especiatlly when, we take the uniform off at the end of a long career."
(June 11, 2009, National Defense University Commencement Ceremony, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C. )
"I am not suggesting that military professionals abandon all personal opinions about modern social or political issues. Nor would I deny them the opportunity to vote or discuss . . . or even to debate those issues among themselves. We are first and foremost citizens of this great country, and as such have a right to participate in the democratic process."
(July 01, 2008, Joint Force Quarterly)
"We get a chance to affect the decisions of our civilian leaders, but we do not make those decisions. And we do not involve ourselves in political debates."
(July 01, 2008, Joint Force Quarterly)
"We would all do well to remember the promises we made: to obey civilian authority, to support and defend the Constitution, and to do our duty at all times. "
(July 01, 2008, Joint Force Quarterly)
"What I am suggesting—indeed, what the Nation expects—is that military personnel will, in the execution of the mission assigned to them, put aside their partisan leanings."
(July 01, 2008, Joint Force Quarterly)