A military law that allows prosecution against ex-generals and retired senior military officers who speak out with "contemptuous" statements against President Donald Trump has rendered many silent, according to a report in the San Antonio Express News.
"Generals, admirals and other top commanders no longer in uniform are worried the administration might pursue criminal charges, tax investigations or other legal retribution against them," they report.
Retired military officers are worried because of Article 88, a section of the Uniform Code of Military Justice titled “Contempt Toward Officials," the newspaper reports.
Under this law, "officers can be court-martialed for speaking 'contemptuous words' about the president, vice president, defense secretary, members of Congress, the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security and the governors or legislatures of any state."
This is why many are staying silent even as they vehemently disagree with actions of the Trump administration, including the strikes on boats in the Caribbean under the guise of a war against alleged drug traffickers.
"The Trump administration is using the law as a weapon to go after its enemies, exact revenge and suppress dissent," said Frank Kendall, who was secretary of the Air Force under President Joe Biden and, according to the Express News, has been sharply critical of Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Kendall noted the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Leticia James as examples, saying, “There’s no reason to think they won’t do the same to retired generals in civil or military courts."
That same retribution has many retired members of the military on mute.
“I have worried about retribution,” one anonymous retired senior military member told the Express News. "In fact, I have even put together a sheet. If you do planning as long as I have, you sit down and you write out the pros and cons of everything.”
The anonymous military member said he and others feared they "would be recalled to active duty to face a court-martial, charged with crimes in a civilian court or subjected to a tax audit or investigation by the Internal Revenue Service," the newspaper reports.
“I don’t believe any of them, including myself, have ever done anything wrong, but that doesn’t seem to make any difference anymore. It’s not necessarily what you did or did not do. It’s the pain they can put you through. It’s the retribution that they seek," the ex-official said.
The law that could prosecute them dates back to the "Articles of War adopted by the Continental Congress in 1775 and was intended to bolster discipline and discourage insubordination," the Express News reports.
"This is very infrequently enforced but could provide a basis for dragging an officer through a trial,” said an anonymous former senior Defense Department official.
While some generals say they just choose to remain apolitical and stay out of the fray, others refuse to be silent.
“At some point in the future, we will look back on this period and review the choices we have made,” said Retired Army Brig. Gen Ty Seidule, who has publicly criticized Trump and Hegseth in op-eds, interviews and television appearances.
Seidule, a Gulf War veteran, served on the Naming Commission created by Congress in 2021 to remove the names of Confederate leaders from nine military installations across the South and bestow new monikers deemed more fitting, according to the Express News. Trump reversed those removals immediately upon taking office for his second term.
"I will not be silent,” Seidule said. “But many others fear retribution. I fear the consequences of staying silent.”
