The 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)

Gen. Mark A. Milley

 

Responsibilities 

  • The highest-ranking military officer in America, Milley acts as the principal military advisor to the President, Secretary of Defense, and National Security Council. As chairman of the JCS, which comprises the top eight military officials in the country, Milley is the conduit between the executive branch and the military chiefs. He exercises no military authority over combatant forces.

Key Focus Areas

  • Improve joint warfighting readiness, develop the Joint Force of the future and empower Joint Force leaders.
  • Re-examine how troops are stationed in allied countries at risk of armed conflict, like South Korea and in the Persian Gulf. Envisions rotating troops rather than maintaining permanent assignments overseas, not including Afghanistan and Iraq, calling the current, decades-old strategy a “derivative” of WWII era policies.
  • Keep pace with the rapidly changing geopolitical environment and also with emerging technologies, threats from cyberattacks, disinformation, pandemics, a marked rise in global urbanization, and China’s economic dominance.

Quote

  • “The U.S. military is very powerful, in all domains. But what’s important to know and recognize is that the gap between us and potential adversaries, say China and Russia, for example, has closed over the last, 10,15, 20 years. The United States has been heavily engaged in counter-insurgency warfare in the Middle East. That we’re all very familiar with. At the same time, the Chinese took stock in our operations worldwide and they decided they would modernize. This goes back to (Chinese Vice Premier) Deng Xiaoping in 1979. He reforms China and modernizes their economy, so that for 41 years now the Chinese economy has really gone on a roll, growing extraordinarily powerful. And in its wake has come a modernized reform—a very, very capable Chinese military. So where the Soviet military was the pacing threat back in the ‘70s and ‘80s when I was commissioned, I would argue the Chinese military and the challenge from a rising China—that is the pacing threat of today.”  – Interview with Brookings Institute, December 2021.

Military Career

  • Prior to becoming chairman of the JCS, Milley was Chief of Staff of the Army (2015), and was also Commander of Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, NC. 
  • During his 39 years in the military, the four-star Army officer has seen multiple combat tours and held a variety of staff and command positions including Commanding General of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command for Afghanistan and Deputy Commanding General of U.S. Forces Afghanistan. 
  • Established the Army Futures Command in Austin, TX (2018), aimed at identifying new warfighting concepts and developing commercial technologies beyond the traditional military acquisition and research processes.
  • Persuaded former President Donald Trump not to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act during the 2020 protests, which would have allowed for the deployment of active-duty troops to quell protestors. Foundational is his belief of “preserving the Constitution” and freedom of speech.

 

Background

Education

  • Princeton University – (1980) B.A. in political science. 
  • Columbia University – M.A.in international relations.
  • U.S. Naval War College – M.A. in national security and strategic studies. 
  • Graduate of the MIT Seminar XXI National Security Studies Program. 

 

Personal

  • Mark Alexander Milley was born June 18, 1958, in Winchester, MA, just outside Boston—the son of two military-oriented parents. Two siblings. His mother, Mary Elizabeth (nee Murphy), served in the Navy at a Seattle-based hospital. His father, Alexander Milley, was a former Marine who fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima. 
  • A proud veteran, the elder Milley nonetheless advised his son against pursuing a career in the military, prompting his enrollment at Princeton rather than West Point. However, while there, he changed his mind and received his commission from Army ROTC, embarking upon a lifelong career in military service.
  • Married to Hollyanne Milley, a cardiac nurse, for 35 years. They have two children.