Trump's focus on generals for top jobs stirs worries over military's sway

Turning to the retired officers reflects Mr. Trump’s preference for having strong, even swaggering, men around him. But it worries national security experts and even other retired generals, who say that if Mr. Trump stacks critical jobs purely with warriors, it could lead to an undue emphasis on military force in American foreign policy.

“If you have too many generals in the kitchen, the dish is likely to be baked with even more military instruments inside,” said John A. Nagl, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and an expert in counterinsurgency strategy. “I’m not sure that’s the recipe the United States needs for every foreign policy meal.”…

For Mr. Trump, the strained history of these generals with his predecessor is less a liability than a credential.

“He is sticking his tongue out at the prior administration,” said Richard H. Kohn, a professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has written about civilian control of the military. “He is inherently distrustful of the military people that the system throws up at him. He thinks they’re not strong people. They are Obama’s generals.”