Sen. Warren Asks Generals About Illegal Orders

Lieutenant General Donovan, you are nominated to lead Southern Command, which would make you the commander responsible for any future military actions in Venezuela. You won't make policy decisions, but service members will count on you to ensure that they are not asked to engage in military operations that are not legal. Now, according to press reports, your predecessor had serious concerns about illegal orders. That was not the case with these strikes. General Donovan, is it sedition for someone in the military to question whether an order is legal? Senator, in my 37 years of experience, I've received many orders over time, and when I ever have faced a situation where I need to seek clarity, I ask our headquarters to clarify the task. Then I come back and work on that with legal advisors, the core staff, the subordinate commanders, senior enlisted leaders, and then present my thoughts to higher headquarters for their consideration. So I think what you're telling me is you have questioned whether an order is legal. Is that right? Senator, I did not. What I believe I'm focused on here is that the legality of the order, we face orders, we carry out missions. And so in that planning process, we look at all aspects of each mission, each task, each order to ensure that we're structuring the command, the force, the unit to achieve the objective. I appreciate that, General, but that's the question I'm trying to ask is, is it sedition for someone in the military to question whether an order is legal? And I thought I just heard you say that you had actually questioned orders and whether they were legal and you sought advice. So I will ask it one more time. Is it sedition to question whether an order is legal? Senator, I would not use the term sedition. I use the term basically our corridor and discipline, how we approach any situation where we have to accomplish a mission and provide the best capability for the task at hand. I'm sorry, I still can't understand your answer here. I'm just asking a very straightforward question. You tell me you have questioned orders in the past about their legality, is that right? Senator, I have questioned orders when either one, I didn't understand, I wasn't equipped to carry them out. I needed clarity before I can actually execute those orders. But you've never questioned whether an order was legal. You've never wondered whether or not an order is legal and sought additional counsel on that? Senator, in our planning processes, I always have a legal advisor at my side as part of the planning process. So I always have leveraged those legal advisors to give me the best answer. In the end, I'm responsible for the final decision to carry out or not carry out the order. I will stop playing dodgeball here. You know, I thought that was going to be the easy question leading to harder questions. Back in 2016, Secretary Hegseth was very clear that service members have a duty not to follow illegal orders. Since then, he has repeatedly made clear his contempt for legal review, including by sidelining military legal advisors, the people who are supposed to help you stay on the right side of the law. And what I wanted to know is how you look at those issues. So let me try a different version of the question. General Donovan, if your legal advisor tells you that an order is illegal, will you refuse to carry out that order? Senator, the legal advisor is one of many staff members that will provide their advice as we look at the scenario, the situation at hand. I will take that very seriously if my legal advisor says that is an illegal order, and I will seek clarification from higher headquarters. Okay. And if somebody higher says no, what are you going to do at that point? Senator, then I make a decision using 37 years experience to carry out that order or not. Okay. But your intention is not to carry out an illegal order, is that right? I will never carry an illegal order, Senator. I appreciate that. That's what I want to hear.