The Declaration of Military Accountability

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I must say that 2024 has been a wild year and we’re only ten days in.

Over the past week and a half, there has been a large amount of buzz surrounding a document that a group of service members and veterans (including me) recently passed into the hands of the American public. This document is known as the Declaration of Military Accountability.

Why all the buzz?

On the morning of New Year's Day at exactly 4am EST, I sent an email to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and other senior leaders in the U.S. Armed Forces to include the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Inspectors General, and Surgeons General. In total, there were eighteen recipients on the email.

The email served to inform these senior officers that a group of service members and veterans had pledged to the American people that we would not stand by and allow the top brass to continue to destroy the military by willfully violating the Constitution, breaking the law, and ignoring military regulations. The email included as an attachment the Declaration of Military Accountability. This Declaration is an open letter to the American public that was signed by 231 individuals who, in placing their names on the document, pledge their commitment to do everything in their power to lawfully block the further destruction of the military by its own senior officials. This includes seeking accountability by holding responsible those senior officers who carried out these unlawful actions.

The purpose of the email was merely to inform the senior military officials of the existence of the Declaration and our intent to pass it to the American people by posting it on social media, passing it to media outlets, etc. As stated above, I sent that email at exactly 4am EST. Seven minutes later, I made the following post on X (Twitter):

Beneath the text of the post, I included a screen shot of the Declaration itself.

Do not feel obligated to try to read that tiny text. Find the Declaration here. At that link, you can find the Declaration of Military Accountability and the names of the 231 signatories. Additionally, there is an associated petition (though a little broader in scope than the deliberately narrowly focused Declaration) that anyone can sign. In fact, we encourage anyone to go to the website, sign the petition if they choose, and then share the link so others can sign.

Where did the Declaration of Military Accountability come from?

The idea came from a good friend of mine, Rob Green, a currently serving commander in the United States Navy. Rob is the author of the book Defending the Constitution Behind Enemy Lines, a fantastic book which I've previously reviewed. To those familiar with Rob or his book, it should come as no surprise that this open letter to the American people was initially his idea. In reality, it could be considered a continuation of the ideas put forth in the book.

Much like myself, Rob is an avid fan of the history of the Founding period. Rob is the one who gave this Declaration the voice of the Founding period with particular links drawn to the Declaration of Independence. A man of faith, Rob also ensured the Declaration clearly communicated our reliance on God in this pursuit of truth and justice.

After crafting the initial draft of the open letter that would become the Declaration, Rob shared it with a small group of other service members and veterans (including myself) who provided assistance through a few revisions. The document was also further circulated amongst a wider group which resulted in the total count of 231 signatories placing their names on the document.

Why now?

People know that 2024 is going to be a pivotal year even if they don't exactly know why. I constantly hear or read statements from individuals that state they can feel that something big is going to happen this year. I don't know exactly what is going to happen this year anymore than the next person, but I certainly believe we're at a critical juncture in the historical trajectory of our nation. In that regard, sending out the Declaration of Military Accountability was an initial salvo on New Year's Day of getting engaged and taking action. We have waited for more than two years for senior military officers to acknowledge their unlawful and harmful actions and take the required steps to restore those affected. That has not happened. Therefore, we (the signatories) have decided to do everything lawfully within our power to save our military from those most responsible for its destruction, hold them accountable via the legal and regulatory mechanisms already in place, and ensure this never happens again.

There's a lot of work to be done to hold senior military officials accountable for the crimes they have committed but accountability is a necessary step in ensuring this never happens again. (Read what I have written previously about the path to a healthy military via acknowledgment, accountability, and restitution, found here).

This Declaration of Military Accountability is a purely apolitical and non-partisan document. It is grounded entirely in the Constitution, the law, and military regulations. Our goal is not in any way to circumvent these frameworks but rather to insist that the corresponding mechanisms merely be employed rather than violated as they were under the mandate.

I'm proud to know many of the brave individuals who put their names on the Declaration of Military Accountability. Doing so was not without risk. I applaud them for “leading from the front” by courageously standing up and resisting the military machine in its path of self-destruction.

Please visit militaryaccountability.com where you can see the Declaration and sign the associated petition. You don't need to have any affiliation whatsoever with the military to do so. Please share the link as well!

For those who might be interested in the various interviews/media engagements we have done over the last ten days with respect to the Declaration, you can find a linktree we created to catalog those.