Pentagon Chief Effectively Bars Display Of Confederate Battle Flag By U.S. Military

David Welna

July 17, 2020 / 10:33 am

caption: Defense Secretary Mark Esper, shown here on Capitol Hill earlier this month, has effectively banned the Confederate battle flag from U.S. military installations.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday unveiled a policy change that effectively blocks the public display of the Confederate battle flag at all U.S. military installations, without specifically naming that controversial banner.

Updated at 3:45 p.m. ET

Esper's announcement follows a lengthy internal debate as well as recent bans on displaying the flag by both the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy.

In an apparent attempt to avoid the ire of President Trump, who has criticized NASCAR's ban of the Confederate flag, Esper's 2-page memo lists the various flags that are now authorized to be displayed on U.S. military property and that "promote unity and esprit de corps".

Conspicuously absent from that list: the Confederate battle flag.

The Associated Press reported that an earlier version of the Pentagon policy memo had specifically banned the Confederate flag.

"The flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divisive symbols," Esper wrote in the memo. "With this change in policy, we will further improve the morale, cohesion, and readiness of the force in defense of our great Nation."

The new policy would not prohibit displays of "unauthorized flags" — which would include the Confederate banner — on state-issued license plates, grave sites, monuments or museum displays, "where the nature of the display or depiction cannot reasonably be viewed as endorsement of the flag by the Department of Defense."

Esper had been under growing pressure from his military commanders to outlaw the symbol of the Confederacy from military installations.

U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger last month ordered an explicit ban on displays of the Confederate flag at all U.S. Marine installations worldwide.

In an April letter to the Marines he commands, Berger made clear his intention to banish the battle flag.

"I have determined it is time to act to exclude from our Corps public displays of the battle flag carried by the Confederate Army during the American Civil War," Berger wrote. "This symbol has shown it has the power to inflame feelings of division. I cannot have that division inside our Corps."

Similar action was taken last month by the highest ranking Naval officer.

"The Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Mike Gilday, has directed his staff to begin crafting an order," said Gilday's spokesman Cmdr. Nate Christensen, "that would prohibit the Confederate battle flag from all public spaces and work areas aboard Navy installations, ships, aircraft and submarines."

There was no mention in Esper's memo of the ten U.S. military bases that continue to bear the names of Confederate leaders. Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have adopted amendments to their respective annual defense policy bills aimed at renaming those bases.

Gen. Mark Milley, who chairs the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a House panel last week that he would be taking "a hard look" at changing the names of those 10 military installations. He also deplored the Confederates after whom the bases were named.

"The Confederacy, the American Civil War was fought, and it was an act of rebellion," Milley told the House armed services panel. "It was an act of treason at the time against the Union, against the Stars and Stripes, against the U.S. Constitution, and those officers turned their back on their oath."

Last month, Trump said he opposed renaming those bases.

"My Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with."

Esper did not discuss his policy change to exclude Confederate flags from military installations at an hour-long virtual town hall meeting on Friday afternoon. He and Milley took questions at the Pentagon from American service members stationed at remote locations.