A United States Army colonel has been removed from his position on the Pentagon staff supporting the Joint Chiefs after his Israel-critical social media posts were publicized by Jewish News Syndicate (JNS). Until this week, Army Col Nathan McCormack led the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Levant and Egypt branch. That team is part of the Joint Staff J5, which proposes strategies, plans, and policy recommendations to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Within hours of Tuesday's JNS report, McCormack was yanked from his post, with a Pentagon official telling JNS:
“The individual is being returned to [the Army] while the matter is being investigated...The information on the X account does not reflect the position of the Joint Staff or the Department of Defense...Our global alliances and partnerships are vital to our national security, enhancing our collective defense, deterrence and operational reach.”
Here are the published comments that led to McCormack's removal:
The JNS report that prompted McCormack's removal from the J5 gave no indication of how his semi-anonymous posts came to the pro-Israel outlet's attention. Up until his 2021 death, zealously pro-Israel billionaire and mega-campaign-contributor Sheldon Adelson was JNS's largest single donor. The JNS article included a disapproving quote from another Adelson-funded entity, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which -- despite its generic-sounding name -- declared in its initial tax-exempt-status-filing that its goal was to "enhance Israel's image in North America."
McCormack's posts were made on X under an account using the name "Nate" and the handle "@mick_or_mack," with a profile that used a cartoon version of himself. His account no longer exists, but several of his posts are still viewable via internet archive links. McCormack didn't strive for full anonymity, as he once posted a photo of a Meritorious Service Medal certificate showing his full name. In May, he replied to an X user, "I’m the Joint Staff J5 Israel branch chief.”
The Pentagon told JNS another officer has been assigned to "look into the matter," but it's not clear that McCormack violated any Army policies. The branch's social media guide says "soldiers are encouraged to express their opinions of the political process online and offline." It advises soldiers to "avoid use of DoD titles, insignia, uniforms or symbols in a way that could imply DoD sanction or endorsement of content on your personal page." McCormack's profile included a disclaimer that his posts “do not represent the position of the Department of Defense or any of its components.” Then again, one of his posts might be read as attributing a position to the DOD, as he wrote:
“Along with the World Health Organization and United Nations, we (Department of Defense, Department of State and the U.S. Intelligence Community) consider the Gaza Health Ministry figures to be generally reliable (though not precise), but probably less so now than they were originally due to the general destruction and chaos in Gaza.”
Even if he's spared any formal discipline, it's safe to say there's zero chance McCormack will be returning to his position on the J5 staff. Beyond its general influence over US policy and personnel, Israel has a history of a strong presence directly inside the Pentagon. Here's how former Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson -- who served as Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff amid the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq -- described what he witnessed:
A Dallas native and Texas A&M graduate, McCormack was commissioned as an infantry second lieutenant just two months after the United States invaded Iraq based on the false pretense that Saddam Hussein was developing a nuclear weapon. As the United States contemplated that invasion, Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress:
McCormack would later be deployed to Iraq, where he surely witnessed for himself the utter emptiness of Netanyahu's claims, and the catastrophic consequences of acting on them. As the Pentagon participated in deliberations over joining another Middle East war on nearly-identical premises, Colonel McCormack's contrarian perspective might have been particularly valuable at such a pivotal moment.