Douglas Macgregor

Douglas Abbott Macgregor (born January 4, 1953, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a U.S. Army Colonel (retired), government official, author, consultant, and television commentator.[1]

This article is about the military writer. For others named, see Douglas Macgregor (disambiguation).
Douglas Macgregor
Born (1953-01-04) January 4, 1953
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Army
Years of service1976–2004
RankColonel
Commands held1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry
Battles/warsGulf War
 • Battle of 73 Easting
AwardsDefense Superior Service Medal
Bronze Star (with Valor)
Meritorious Service Medal (4)
Army Commendation Medal
Army Achievement Medal
National Defense Service Medal (2)
Southwest Asia Service Medal (2 Bronze Stars)
Kuwait Liberation Medal
Kosovo Campaign Medal
Humanitarian Service Medal
French Meritorious Service Medal (Bronze Star)
Parachutist Badge
Ranger Tab

On July 27, 2020, the White House announced that President Donald Trump intended to nominate Macgregor to serve as the United States Ambassador to Germany. On November 11, 2020, a Pentagon spokesperson announced that Macgregor had been hired to serve as Senior Advisor to the Acting Secretary of Defense.

Early life and education

Macgregor was educated at the Wm. Penn Charter School in Philadelphia and at the Virginia Military Institute, and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with a BS in general engineering in 1976. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia[2] in international relations in 1987.[3]

Military career

Macgregor was the "squadron operations officer who essentially directed the Battle of 73 Easting" during the Gulf War.[2] Facing an Iraqi Republican Guard opponent, Macgregor led a contingent consisting of 19 Tanks, 26 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 4 M1064 Mortar Carriers through the sandstorm to the 73 Easting at roughly 16:18 hours on 26 February 1991 destroyed almost 70 Iraqi armored vehicles with no U.S. casualties in a 23-minute span of the battle.[2] Macgregor was at the front of the formation in the center with Eagle Troop on the right and Ghost Troop on the left. Macgregor designated Eagle Troop the main attack and positioned himself to the left of Eagle Troop. Eagle Troop Scouts subsequently followed Macgregor's Tank through a minefield during which Macgregor's crew destroyed two enemy tanks. As Macgregor was towards the front of the battle involved in shooting, he didn't "request artillery support or report events to superiors until the battle was virtually over, according to one of his superior officers."[2] The risks he undertook "could have been criticized had the fight turned ugly."[2]

At a November 1993 exercise at the Army's National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, Lt. Col. Macgregor's unit vastly outperformed its peers against the "Opposition Force (OPFOR)." The series of five battles usually end in four losses and a draw for the visiting units; Macgregor's unit won three, lost one, and drew one.[2] Macgregor's unit dispersed widely, took unconventional risks, and anticipated enemy movements.[2]

Macgregor was a top Army thinker on innovation, according to journalist Thomas E. Ricks.[4] He "became prominent inside the Army" when he published Breaking the Phalanx, which argued for radical reforms.[4] Breaking the Phalanx was rare in that an active duty military author was challenging the status quo with detailed reform proposals for the reorganization of U.S. Army ground forces.[5] The head of the Army, United States General Dennis Reimer, wanted to reform the Army and effectively endorsed Breaking the Phalanx and passed copies out to generals; however, reforming the U.S. Army according to the book met resistance from the Army's de facto "board of directors"—the other four-star Army generals—and Reimer did not press the issue.[6] Breaking the Phalanx advocated that "the Army restructure itself into modularly organized, highly mobile, self-contained, combined arms teams that look extraordinarily like the Marine Corps' Air Ground Task Forces".[7] His article called "Thoughts on Force Design in an Era of Shrinking Defense Budgets" was published in Dado Center Journal (The IDF Journal on Operational Art).

Many of Macgregor's colleagues thought his unconventional thinking may have harmed his chances for promotion.[2] While an Army NTC official called him "the best war fighter the Army has got," colleagues of Macgregor were concerned that "the Army is showing it prefers generals who are good at bureaucratic gamesmanship to ones who can think innovatively on the battlefield."[2] Macgregor was also seen as blunt, and to some, arrogant.[2] Despite Magregor's top post-Gulf War NTC showing, his Army career was sidelined.[2] The summer of 1997 marked the third time the Army refused to put him in command of a combat brigade,[2] "a virtual death warrant for his Army career, relegating him to staff jobs as a colonel for the remainder of his service."[3]

Macgregor was the top planner for General Wesley Clark, the military commander of NATO, for the attack on Yugoslavia.[3]

In the fall of 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who had read Breaking the Phalanx, insisted that General "Tommy" Franks and his planning staff meet with Colonel Macgregor on 16–17 January 2002 to discuss a concept for intervention in Iraq involving the use of an armored heavy force of roughly 50,000 troops in a no warning attack straight into Baghdad.[8]

Macgregor left the Army in June 2004.[9]

Post-military career

Macgregor is the vice president of Burke-Macgregor, LLC, a consulting firm based in Reston, Virginia,[10] and he appears as a guest commentator on television and radio. Macgregor has been a regular guest on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program since 2017. When John Bolton was removed from the White House in 2019, Macgregor was one of five finalists under consideration for selection as President Trump's National Security Advisor.[11][12][13]

In 2012, he challenged general James F. Amos' stance on the United States Marine Corps. Macgregor argued that the military capability and pertinence of the Marines, along with Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps, made them both "as relevant as the Army's horse cavalry in the 1930s".[14] In 2014, he stated that U.S. Army is designed to benefit four-star generals, not brigade readiness.[15]

Douglas Macgregor meeting with IDF Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi

In 2019, Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi. Chief of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) General Staff made Macgregor's 2003 Book, Transformation under Fire, required reading for all officers in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and above. On February 17, 2020, Macgregor traveled to Israel as a guest of the IDF Chief of Staff to meet with the IDF General Staff, and many of his senior officers to discuss General Kohavi's ongoing initiative to transform the IDF for future warfighting missions in the 21st century.[16]

U.S. Ambassador to Germany nomination

On July 27, 2020, the White House announced Donald Trump's intent to nominate Macgregor as U.S. Ambassador to Germany.[17][18] Following the announcement, Macgregor's history of controversial remarks received media attention. He has asserted that Muslim immigrants (referred to as "Muslim invaders") come to Europe "with the goal of eventually turning Europe into an Islamic state".[19] Macgregor has argued that the German concept of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, used to cope with Germany's Nazi past and its atrocities during World War II, is a "sick mentality."[19] Macgregor has also stated that martial law should be instituted on the U.S.-Mexico border and argued for the extrajudicial execution of those who cross the border at unofficial ports of entry.[19] Macgregor has also made statements in support of Israel having defensible borders, the annexation of the Golan Heights, and the decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.[20] In a column in The Washington Post he was described as racist crackpot who is pro-Russia, anti-Merkel, anti-Muslim and anti-Mexican.[21] His nomination stalled in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.[22] On January 3, 2021, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.[23]

Senior Advisor to the Acting Secretary of Defense

On November 11, 2020, a Pentagon spokesperson announced that Macgregor had been hired to serve as senior advisor to the new Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.[24][25][26][27]

Views

Views on the Iraq War

In 2004, Macgregor stated that he strongly supported war against Iraq.[28] During the beginning of the Iraq War, Macgregor disagreed with those who wanted to slow the advance into Baghdad in order to fight Fedayeen paramilitary forces.[29] In 2006, after seven retired generals criticized then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's handling of the war, Magregor faulted the generals themselves for poor war planning and the resulting complications in Iraq.[30] In 2008, Macgregor stated he would argue that American military action in Iraq and Afghanistan "has produced very serious and negative consequences for American national-security interests".[31] Macgregor's 2009 book, Warrior's Rage: The Great Tank Battle of 73 Easting, argues that the failure to finish the battle with the Republican Guard in 1991 led to Iraq's second major confrontation with the United States in 2003.

Macgregor says that David Petraeus, Martin Dempsey, and other generals consistently exaggerated or falsified the effectiveness of the Iraqi army because "the generals were simply cultivating their Bush administration sponsors in pursuit of further promotion".[32]

By 2020, Macgregor's website called the war in Iraq a failure.[19]

Views on Russian annexation

In 2014, after Russia tried to annex Crimea and was engaged in a conflict with Ukraine over its eastern parts, Macgregor went on Russian network RT where he called for the annexation of the Donbass in accordance with the results of 2014 referenda and said residents of the region "are in fact Russians, not Ukrainians, and at the same time, you have Ukrainians in the west and in the north, who are not Russians[19][33] The 2014 referenda results are not officially recognized by any country, including the United States, Russia, or the members of the European Union.[34] The governments of Ukraine, the United States, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom have criticized the referenda as unconstitutional and illegitimate.[35]

Views on the Kosovo War

In 2014, Macgregor went on Russian network RT to express his opposition to U.S. intervention in the Kosovo War.[19]

Select bibliography
  • Breaking the Phalanx: A New Design for Landpower in the 21st Century, Westport (CT): Praeger, 1997, ISBN 0275957934 OCLC 35172666.[7]
  • Transformation Under Fire: Revolutionizing How America Fights, Westport (CT): Praeger, 2003, ISBN 0275981924 OCLC 52728785.
  • Warrior's Rage: The Great Tank Battle of 73 Easting, Annapolis (MD): Naval Institute Press, 2009, ISBN 9781591145059 OCLC 313658347.
  • Margin of Victory: Five Battles that Changed the Face of Modern War, Annapolis (MD): Naval Institute Press, 2016, ISBN 1612519962.

References
  1. Gal Perl Finkel, Win the close fight, The Jerusalem Post, March 21, 2017.
  2. Richard J. Newman (28 July 1997). "Renegades Finish Last. A Colonel's Innovative Ideas Don't Sit Well with the Brass". U.S. News & World Report. 123 (4): 35. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  3. Thomas E. Ricks (16 April 1999). "Gung Ho but Slow. Why the U.S. Army is Ill-Equipped to Move Into Kosovo Quickly". The Wall Street Journal.
  4. Thomas E. Ricks (20 February 2002). "A Test Case for Bush's Military Reform Pledge? – Some Decry Transfer of Reform Advocate to Army Staff Job". The Washington Post.
  5. Paul Greenberg, "A Tale of Two Colonels", Jewish World Review, 5 May 1999. Greenberg compares the fate of Colonel DeGaulle and his book to Macgregor's noting it was the first by a serving Army officer to question the status quo since Billy Mitchell's work on air power.
  6. Peter J. Boyer (1 July 2002). "A Different War – Is the Army becoming irrelevant?". The New Yorker.
  7. Stephen A. Cheney (Jan–Feb 1998). "The General's Folly: Old Thinking for a New Military". Foreign Affairs. Council on Foreign Relations.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  8. See FRONTLINE documentary on the contentious planning that led to the seizure of Baghdad in 2003 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8flLP0ihI8c>. Also, see Bernard Trainor and Michael Gordon's book, Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq, (New York: Pantheon, 2006).
  9. Thomas E. Ricks (6 July 2004). "U.S. Army Changed by Iraq, but for Better or Worse?; Some Military Experts See Value in Lessons Learned; Others Cite Toll on Personnel, Equipment". The Washington Post. p. A.10.
  10. Douglas Macgregor, PhD, Colonel (ret) US Army, Executive Vice President Accessed 15 August 2010.
  11. 9/10/2019 (2019-10-09). "Bolton out as national security adviser after clashing with Trump". Msn.com. Retrieved 2020-04-04.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. Posted on (2019-09-10). "Douglas Macgregor for National Security Advisor?". Adam Dick. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  13. Lara Seligman, Robbie Gramer, Elias Groll (2019-09-11). "Who's on the Shortlist to Replace Bolton – Foreign Policy". Foreignpolicy.com. Retrieved 2020-04-04.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. "USMC: Under-utilized Superfluous Military Capability."
  15. "Our Army’s Headed for Collapse: Here’s how to fix it."
  16. "Twitter". Mobile.twitter.com. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  17. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint the Following Individuals to Key Administration Posts". The White House. July 27, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  18. Bender, Bryan; Toosi, Nahal (July 27, 2020). "Trump taps renegade retired colonel for Germany ambassador post". Politico. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  19. Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski. "German ambassador pick disparaged immigrants and refugees, called for martial law at US-Mexico border". CNN. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
  20. "Antisemitism accusations against Dr Douglas Macgregor are deeply upsetting". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  21. Trump chooses for ambassador to Germany a racist Fox commentator who is pro-Putin and anti-Merkel
  22. Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck. "Pentagon senior adviser accused Pompeo and senior politicians of taking money and getting rich from 'the Israeli lobby'". CNN. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  23. "PN2156 - Nomination of Douglas Macgregor for Department of State, 116th Congress (2019-2020)". www.congress.gov. 2021-01-03. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  24. Browne, Ryan; Starr, Barbara (November 12, 2020). "Trump administration installs advocate for quick Afghanistan withdrawal at Pentagon". CNN. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  25. Mitchell, Ellen (November 11, 2020). "New Pentagon chief hires adviser who wants quick withdrawal from Afghanistan". The Hill. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  26. Swan, Jonathan (November 11, 2020). "Scoop: Divisive Pentagon hire may rush troop withdrawals before Trump's exit". Axios. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  27. Griffin, Jennifer; Ruiz, Michael (November 12, 2020). "New Pentagon adviser could push US troop withdrawals before Trump's departure". Fox News. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  28. "Rumsfeld's War: Interviews: Douglas Macgregor". Frontline. 26 October 2004.
  29. Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor (12 March 2006). "As war began, U.S. generals feuded". The New York Times.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  30. Richard Allen Greene (17 April 2006). "Vocal Rumsfeld critics break ranks". BBC News.
  31. Douglas Macgregor, Marvin Weinbaum, Abdullah Ansary, Robert Pape (2008). "The"Global War on Terror": What Has Been Learned?". Middle East Policy. John Wiley & Sons. 14 (4): 1–25. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4967.2008.00366.x.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  32. Vlahos, Kelley (9 October 2014). "The Iraqi Army Never Was". www.theamericanconservative.com. The American Conservative. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  33. "Let "Russians" in eastern Ukraine "join Russia," Trump's German ambassador pick told RT". Euromaidan Press. August 7, 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  34. "Russia Keeps Its Distance After Ukraine Secession Referendums". The New York Times. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  35. "Russia Calls for 'Civilized Implementation' of East Ukraine Referendum Results". The Wall Street Journal. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.

Sources
  • Colonel (Retired) Douglas, A. Macgregor (July 2018). "Thoughts on Force Design in an Era of Shrinking Defense Budgets". The Dado Center Journal. 16–17.
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