Those Who Serve the United States With Honor
Honorable members of United States military and intelligence services face difficult times today. Current administration office holders, including but not limited to the President, well may call for unconstitutional actions.
Any such unconstitutional orders from the legal Chain of Command must be resisted.
Mr. Schlesinger, in consultation with Gen. George S. Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, created a precedent for such resistance in 1974 under President Nixon.
'WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 1974—Defense Secretary James R. Schlesinger and the Joint Chiefs of Staff kept unusually close control over lines of command, in the last days of the Nixon Administration to insure that no unauthorized orders were given to military units by the White House.
A senior Pentagon official said today that the decision to monitor closely all orders from any source was taken by Mr. Schlesinger, in consultation with Gen. George S. Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to prevent any of a series of hypothetical situations from developing....'
[https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/25/archives/pentagon-kept-tight-reinin-last-days-of-nixon-rule-no-event.html]
