--- title: Leon Panetta Criticizes President Trump For 'My Military' description: Former defense secretary Leon Panetta chastised President Trump for saying he authorized "my military" to drop a bomb on Afghanistan. canonical: https://time.com/4739810/donald-trump-leon-panetta-military/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-14T11:30:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:45:47.979Z article:section: Politics og:title: Leon Panetta Criticizes President Trump For 'My Military' og:description: Former defense secretary Leon Panetta chastised President Trump for saying he authorized "my military" to drop a bomb on Afghanistan. og:url: https://time.com/4739810/donald-trump-leon-panetta-military/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4985cd5c9f99070/6988c29cbc6cfc9e0f3e0dfb/gettyimages-667808734.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Meets With President Trump At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Leon Panetta Criticizes President Trump For 'My Military' twitter:description: Former defense secretary Leon Panetta chastised President Trump for saying he authorized "my military" to drop a bomb on Afghanistan. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4985cd5c9f99070/6988c29cbc6cfc9e0f3e0dfb/gettyimages-667808734.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former Defense Secretary Criticizes President Trump For Saying 'My Military' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=131736f0-8cc7-4668-883b-3ff0cdd1c904&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump On U.S. Military Dropping Largest Non-Nuclear Bomb in Afghanistan [Watch (HLS stream): Trump On U.S. Military Dropping Largest Non-Nuclear Bomb in Afghanistan](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kQMgwXIS.m3u8) (1:34)  _Published 2017-04-13. U.S. forces in Afghanistan on Thursday struck an ISIS tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan with "the mother of all bombs," the largest non-nuclear weapon every used in combat by the U.S. military, Pentagon officials said._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Apr 14, 2017 11:30 AM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Apr 14, 2017 11:30 AM UTC When the United States dropped “[the mother of all bombs](http://time.com/4739302/mother-of-all-bombs-afghanistan-what-is-that/)” on [Afghanistan](http://time.com/4738838/afghanistan-military-mother-of-all-bombs-isis-afghanistan/?xid=homepage) Thursday, President Trump said he had authorized “my military” to do so. But one former defense secretary was upset by the president’s word choice. “When it comes to the military, the military belongs to the country,” [Leon Panetta](http://time.com/4427643/dnc-leon-panetta-no-more-war-chants/?iid=sr-link2), secretary of defense and CIA director under President Obama, said on MSNBC. “Our defense system belongs to the country. And it’s not the president’s military, it’s the military of the United States of America.” “He has responsibility obviously, as commander in chief, to be able to make decisions with regards to our military,” Panetta continued. “But I think if you ask the men and women in uniform who they are responsible to, I think their answer would be, ‘We’re responsible to the United States of America.'” Trump’s comment came in response to questions by reports in the White House Thursday afternoon. When asked whether he had authorized the bombing, he said, according to a pool report, “What I do is I authorize my military. We have the greatest military in the world and they’ve done a job as usual. We have given them total authorization and that’s what they’re doing and frankly that’s why they’ve been so successful lately.” ## Transcript Very, very proud of the people, really another successful job. We're very, very proud of our military. Just like we're proud of the folks in this room. We are so proud of our military, and it was another successful event. Did you authorize it too? Everybody knows exactly what happen so what I do is I authorized my military. We have the greatest military in the world and they've done a job as usual. So, we have given them total authorization and that's what they're doing. And frankly that's why they've been so successful lately. If you look at what's happened over the last eight weeks and compare that's what Really to what's happened over the last eight years, you'll see there's a tremendous difference, tremendous difference. So we have incredible leaders in the military and we have incredible military. And we are very proud of them, and this was another very, very successful mission. Thank you very much. Mr President did you send a message to North Korea. Thank you. Does this send a message to North Korea? I don't know if sends a message, it doesn't make any difference if it does or not. North Korea is the problem, the problem will be taken care of. I will say this, I think China has really been working very hard, I have really gotten to like and respect, As you know, President Chi is terrific person. We've spent a lot of time together in Florida and he's a very special man. So we'll see how it does. I think he's gonna try very hard. Thank you. 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