Bishop Speaks Out About Firings, Targeting of Federal Employees

Over the past few weeks since President Donald Trump began his second term in office, he has made cuts to several agencies, and fired several department heads, including 21^st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Quinton Brown Jr.  

Brown said he felt he was targeted after he spoke out in opposition to police brutality after George Floyd was killed in May of 2020. Brown released the following video days after the attack: (https://www.dvidshub.net/video/755013/im-thinking-about)

“Gen. C.Q. Brown has had a distinguished career as a warfighter. His professionalism is respected and admired by military servicemembers as well as Congress, and he was lauded by President Trump himself,” said Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02), a senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. “His unjustified termination as Joint Chief along with those of Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, General James Slife, and the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, strips our country of its top warfighters and leaders at a time when the world threat environment is at a fever pitch, including in Russia, China, and the Middle East.”

Brown’s chairmanship promotion was held up by Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville for months but was confirmed in Sept. of 2023 by a vote of 89-8.

Bishop said these firing send the wrong message to the world, related to America.

“This signals weakness to our adversaries and sends a chilling message to those serving in our military and will hamper our ability to recruit and retain the best and the brightest to defend our nation,” Bishop said. “Furthermore, this puts America’s national security in jeopardy, risks politicizing our military which has always been, and should always be, non-political, and places cronyism above merit, experience, and integrity.”

In addition to these firing, the Trump Administration has targeted the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, encouraging live-long civil servants to resign or risk being fired. Additionally, the new Department of Government Efficiency has sent emails to all employees asking them email what they did the previous week.

“This move is dumb, dangerous, and the result of giving access to inept and inexperienced individuals. Several agency leaders, who know better, have already told their employees to disregard Musk’s directive and the OPM email. I share their concerns that such a daily activity report, sent through unclassified channels, could compromise our national security, law enforcement, and other highly sensitive matters which would put our public safety at risk. Musk’s poorly thought-out directive does not consider workers already on approved leave or workers locked out of their systems by DOGE activity. It is a mess, and the American people deserve better.”