The Pentagon’s top uniformed military officer reassured that he and senior leadership can conduct their daily duties from home after entering self-isolation when being notified that they could have been exposed to another military official who tested positive for COVID-19.
Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with the senior leaders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Force, all went into self-quarantine out of “an abundance of caution” last week after potentially being exposed to the novel coronavirus.
The four-star general had been in meetings with Adm. Charles Ray, vice commandant of the Coast Guard, who tested positive last Monday for COVID-19.
But on Monday, Gen. Milley sought to reassure the country that the military maintains operational readiness despite being confined to his home.
“We all have various SCIFs, special compartmented information facilities, built into our houses,” he said in an interview with NPR, “and we all have all the same communication systems we have in the Pentagon.”
In the interview, Gen. Milley said he hopes to “assure the American people that the Joint Chiefs of Staff are fully functional, even though we’re functional from home.”
“We can go to any level of security” from the secure rooms in their homes, Gen. Milley said. “So we’re quite able to operate and maintain our daily duties and oversee the responsibilities that we have on a daily basis.”
Gen. Milley has tested negative several times for COVID-19, according to Pentagon officials.
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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