Civilians.

This is coolbert:

What would have Sun Tzu have said about civilian leadership and command of the military? An ultimate civilian command of the military as is found in the United States. The President, and elected official, the Commander-in-Chief.

Sun says that there are some positions within the society that are so important that appointments to these positions cannot be left to the whim of politics or the command of the sovereign.

According to Sun:

"The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life or death, a road either to saftey or to ruin. Hence under no circumstances can it be neglected."

"Having once received His majesty's commission to be general of his force, there are certain commands of his majesty which acting in that capacity, I am unable to accept.".

Well, this goes against our civilian control of the military. And this is not an issue in the U.S. I cannot imagine military leadership in the U.S. assuming a role other than what they have now. No involvement in politics or controversial issues at home.

Nonetheless, there are some positions within the government that must not be susceptible to political whim.

These are positions of such importance that the people in those positions must be above the normal fray of political appointments and such.

What would these positions be?

* Chairman of JCS,
* Head of CIA and FBI,
* Head of Secret Service.

And not a whole lot other.

My understanding is that now the people in these positions are appointees serving at "the pleasure of the President". And you can make the case that people of such high rank must be someone that gets along with and agrees with the President whom they are serving under. But Sun would say that the sovereign is not all powerful. What the sovereign says in matters of war are not to be always listened to or obeyed. For to not follow the advice of the General might at times place the entire society in peril of it's existence being snuffed out.

coolbert.