Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), in a scathing letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, slammed "partisans and obstructionists" at the Department of Defense who are already plotting ways to thwart the incoming president's agenda.

Cotton was responding to reports that officials within the United States government are conspiring against President-elect Donald Trump to undermine decisions he finds warranted in furthering the interests of this nation.

Like mass deportations or firing underperforming officials.

"It appears that partisans and obstructionists inside the Department of Defense are laying groundwork to defy or circumvent President Trump’s plans for both military and civil-service reform," Cotton wrote. "These actions undermine civilian control of the military and our constitutional structure of government."

Partisan actions undermine civilian control of our military and our constitutional structure of government.

The pentagon should knock off this nonsense and get on with the business of handing over the reigns to the next administration. https://t.co/KtzwaqXW0d

— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) November 26, 2024

As RedState previously reported, the crux of these rogue officials' concerns involves stated intentions by Trump to make a national emergency declaration to repurpose assets from the Pentagon to detain and deport illegal immigrants.

“Troops are compelled by law to disobey unlawful orders,” a defense official asserted. “But the question is what happens then – do we see resignations from senior military leaders? Or would they view that as abandoning their people?”

"'Troops are compelled by law to disobey unlawful orders,' said another defense official. 'But the question is what happens then – do we see resignations from senior military leaders? Or would they view that as abandoning their people?'" https://t.co/mDVVQkCMmd

— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) November 9, 2024

Cotton, in his letter, also took direct aim at Austin, claiming: "You also issued a message to the department the day after the election commenting that the military will follow 'lawful orders' from the new president—a thinly veiled and baseless insinuation that President Trump will issue unlawful orders."

The Republican Senator asserts that the DOD's actions in preparing for Trump by angling his agenda as "unlawful" is proof that the entire department is badly in need of a fundamental overhaul.

"And, of course, while inappropriate and annoying, these tactics are also useless because no action by the outgoing administration can limit the incoming president’s constitutional authority as commander-in-chief," Cotton concludes.

"Please, therefore, knock off this nonsense and get on with the business of handing over the reins to the next administration."

It's almost certain that they will "knock off the nonsense" once nominee Pete Hegseth replaces Austin. Prior to being nominated by Trump, Hegseth had some very interesting thoughts on cleaning up the DOD.

🚨NEW: Newly appointed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on reforming US military leadership:

Anyone "involved in the woke sh*t has got to go...you have to reestablish that trust by putting in no-nonsense warfighters in those positions who aren't going to cater to the socially… pic.twitter.com/9181gOVp2q

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) November 13, 2024

"First of all, you got to fire the Chairman Joint of the Chiefs and obviously going to bring in a new Secretary of Defense, but any general that was involved general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in, any of the DEI woke s**t, has got to go," Hegseth said during an interview on the "Shawn Ryan Show" podcast.

The obstructionists, thinking they can disobey commands from the president because they've personally ascertained them to be unlawful, need to go as well.