So, we have a sitting US Senator/astronaut/Navy Vet who is being harassed by the "Secretary" of Defense for making a video telling troop that they can (and must) refuse unconstitutional orders. This tells us a bit about how the administration and DoD view the constitution versus chain-of-command.
Thusly, I can only assume that these "Lieutenant Colonels" are there to be ordered to do things which they cannot refuse if constitutional, and will still be expected to do if unconstitutional.
The article you cited said it was done during wartime. It was a way to keep the scientists and technicians who were drafted into military service... so they can keep working in the laboratories they are already working in.
As a solution, the Manhattan Engineer District (MED) in May secured authorization to establish the Special Engineering Detachment (SED) to which technical and scientific personnel could be assigned upon being drafted
Old news but worth revisiting. There has been and continues to be open corruption in the Trump administration. If you donate to them and support their political positions blindingly, you get contracts or regulatory help or maybe a lack of regulatory trouble.
A good example is Jensen Huang donating to the ballroom project and Nvidia’s Groq acquisition not being blocked for antitrust. But you see this with many other leaders too. The All In podcast is basically a MAGA podcast now. Many VCs are silent about current events as they hope their portfolio companies get defense contracts.
I'm normally very reluctant to cheer most comparisons us the US political situation to nazi germany, or to fascism in general.
But events like this (and the Intel stake) seem like an exact implementation of what has come to be called The Third Position[0], which, if I understand correctly, was the etymology of the world 'fascism' itself.
Mussolini's 1913 Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria was apparently named after 'fasci', or corporate syndicates, his vision of which is basically exactly what we're seeing here: the state owning stakes in the means of technocratic production, and corporate leaders in positions of military command.
And although "The Third Position" is usually called a _neo_-fascist movement, I believe that Mussolini articulated it, more or less in its entirety, some time in the early 1920s?
I'm more of a political scientist than a historian, so it's possible I have this wrong.
The comments here are hilarious. Every competent military in the world has DCO programs... Otherwise they'd never be able to attract talent for specialised fields.
Way too easy to stir the pot here. Dig up some plausibly tech-themed political news from a few months ago, post, and watch the piranhas start nipping at it.
All that is left on my bingo card is for them to outright invent a religious cult (they're already a cult of a different sort) to both get tax exempt status and actually zealously believe in it too.
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[ 5.7 ms ] story [ 89.0 ms ] threadFor more context: https://www.npr.org/2025/07/03/1255164460/1a-army-07-03-2025
So, we have a sitting US Senator/astronaut/Navy Vet who is being harassed by the "Secretary" of Defense for making a video telling troop that they can (and must) refuse unconstitutional orders. This tells us a bit about how the administration and DoD view the constitution versus chain-of-command.
Thusly, I can only assume that these "Lieutenant Colonels" are there to be ordered to do things which they cannot refuse if constitutional, and will still be expected to do if unconstitutional.
Totes not fascism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detachment_201
https://www.army.mil/article/286317/army_launches_detachment...
As a solution, the Manhattan Engineer District (MED) in May secured authorization to establish the Special Engineering Detachment (SED) to which technical and scientific personnel could be assigned upon being drafted
A good example is Jensen Huang donating to the ballroom project and Nvidia’s Groq acquisition not being blocked for antitrust. But you see this with many other leaders too. The All In podcast is basically a MAGA podcast now. Many VCs are silent about current events as they hope their portfolio companies get defense contracts.
But events like this (and the Intel stake) seem like an exact implementation of what has come to be called The Third Position[0], which, if I understand correctly, was the etymology of the world 'fascism' itself.
Mussolini's 1913 Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria was apparently named after 'fasci', or corporate syndicates, his vision of which is basically exactly what we're seeing here: the state owning stakes in the means of technocratic production, and corporate leaders in positions of military command.
And although "The Third Position" is usually called a _neo_-fascist movement, I believe that Mussolini articulated it, more or less in its entirety, some time in the early 1920s?
I'm more of a political scientist than a historian, so it's possible I have this wrong.
0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Position
Discussion then: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44268547