The commander of the US Space Force base that hosted Vice President JD Vance on his visit to Greenland (US Facility in Greenland Gets High-Profile Visit As VP Vance Addresses the Troops — RedState) has sent an email to all American and Danish military personnel disavowing comments made by the Vice President on behalf of President Trump during his visit. Space Force Colonel Susan Meyers, who assumed command of the 821st Space Base Group at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland in July 2024, wrote that she "spent the weekend thinking about Friday's visit -- the actions taken, the words spoken, and how it must have affected each of you. I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the US administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base,"
She doesn't specify what the "words spoken" were, but they were probably the unvarnished criticism Vice President Vance expressed about Denmark's reinvestment in Greenland, which has left that territory vulnerable to Russian and Chinese subversion campaigns.
We respect -- as the president said in his State of the Union Address, we respect the self-determination of Greenlander -- Greenlanders, excuse me. We believe in the self-determination of the population of the people of Greenland.
And our argument is very simple. It is not with the people of Greenland, who I think are incredible and have an incredible opportunity here. Our argument, really, is with the pe- -- is with the leadership of Denmark, which has underinvested in Greenland and underinvested in its security architecture. That simply must change.
The Space Force confirmed the authenticity of the email. When informed of the email, Department of Defense Chief of Staff Joe Kasper said in a statement that "civilian control of the military is a bedrock principle of our armed forces. Actions to undermine the chain of command or to subvert President Trump's agenda will not be tolerated at the Defense Department."
From inauguration day onward, the military services have engaged in a campaign of "malicious compliance," that is, aggressively applying administration directives in a way that makes the directives and the people issuing them look ridiculous. I've listed a few of those instances below:
BACKGROUND:
Pete Hegseth Stamps Out One USAF DEI Mutiny but Others Await – RedState
Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell Lays Out the Facts on DoD DEI Removal – RedState
On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had fired Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield as the top US representative to NATO's military committee "due to a loss of confidence in her ability to lead." According to unofficial sources (Pentagon Spox Teaches Jasmine Crockett a Lesson After Her Jaw-Dropping Remarks on Admiral's Firing – RedState), she had refused to put up pictures of President Trump and Secretary Hegseth in NATO headquarters, saying, "We will wait them out four years."
I can't imagine Colonel Meyers being in command much longer. She was under no moral, legal, or ethical obligation to defend Vance's remarks, but she was under an obligation not to comment negatively on them. Not only did she do so to all base personnel, an action that more likely than not violated Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. When she included Danish military personnel on the email distribution list, she definitely crossed a line that should cost her her commission.
UPDATE
And it is done.
Actions to undermine the chain of command or to subvert President Trump's agenda will not be tolerated at the Department of Defense.
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellATSD) April 11, 2025
⬇️⬇️ https://t.co/ITFeGw0kUf pic.twitter.com/MO68aje1X2
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