President Barack Obama is letting White House officials dictate decisions on how the U.S. will proceed in major foreign policy and military initiatives, Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin told "Fox & Friends."
Specifically, Boykin said Obama is allowing National Security Adviser Susan Rice to call the shots in decisions on the battle against the Islamic State (ISIS), and letting presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett influence negotiations with Iran over the country's nuclear weapons program.
Boykin, executive vice president of the Family Research Council, said Washington Post editor Bob Woodward was "correct" when he told "Fox News Sunday" that "people from the White House are micromanaging the tactical situation [against ISIS] on a daily and weekly basis."
Rice had "no statutory authority to give the secretary of defense or any of the general officers or the leadership of the military advice or directives," Boykin said, adding that it was believed Jarrett was influencing the Iran negotiations.
"There are many who are now saying that [Jarrett] is really the architect of this non-treaty with the Iranians, which ultimately will result in the Iranians having a nuclear program, and America having to accept a nuclear-armed Iran. Yeah, she's a powerful influence on [Obama]," he said.
Officials in the Pentagon should "push back on the president" against the involvement of White House officials in the specifics of military activities, Boykin said.
"They should complain. When the national security adviser is picking up the phone and calling field commanders, as this one is reported to be doing, then the professional leadership in our military should be balking and pushing back," he said.
Boykin said if Pentagon officials saw that "their influence is meaningless to the president," then they should "make a public statement" and resign and "tell the world why they have resigned."
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