{"id":168838,"date":"2025-04-23T10:03:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T14:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=168838"},"modified":"2025-04-23T10:03:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T14:03:20","slug":"hegseths-body-mans-qualifications-questioned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=168838","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth’s body man’s qualifications questioned"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Colonel Ricky Buria (back when he was a mere Lt. Col)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SECDEF Hegseth’s office is in the midst of a couple of scandals. We talked recently about his troubles with using the app Signal for potentially sensitive information, but there’s also an IG investigation in leaks to the media. This has led to a few people in Hegseth’s inner circle being fired or reassigned. Of those close to the SECDEF is now-former Marine Colonel Ricky Buria, an MV-22 Naval Aviator. He was Junior Military Assistant (JMA) until recently, as he’s now retired from the Corps to take on a civilian role in the SECDEF’s office. The JMA is an aide-de-camp position for the secretary, and is the type of posting a field grade officer would secure that has the potential to wear stars (and probably more than one on each collar).<\/p>\n

Naturally, the media that thought a lieutenant colonel knew more about American foreign policy than the President of the United States (*cough*\u00a0<\/em>Vindman\u00a0*cough*<\/em>) thinks that a promising field grade officer selected by the\u00a0previous\u00a0<\/em>administration for this sensitive post is of questionable bona fides for a role in the current administration.<\/p>\n

Defense Times throws shade on the Colonel here<\/a>;<\/p>\n

\n

How a Lloyd Austin aide became Pete Hegseth\u2019s \u2018only guy standing\u2019<\/h3>\n

In early April, after Pete Hegseth returned from a trip to Panama, the last person to step off the plane before the defense secretary himself was a colonel wearing slacks and a pullover.<\/p>\n

This was Ricky Buria, Hegseth\u2019s junior military assistant and one of the only holdovers from the last secretary\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

Buria, who has sharp black hair with a gray streak in the front, has gained unique status in the last three months \u2014 not only in the secretary\u2019s inner circle but perhaps the entire Pentagon. He was appointed under the last administration but has rapidly gained Hegseth\u2019s trust, and with it newfound power.<\/p>\n

Last week, Buria resigned his post in the Marine Corps and is now transitioning into a new role as one of Hegseth\u2019s senior civilian advisors. Multiple sources who spoke for this story said he\u2019s being considered for a higher position, potentially even chief of staff.<\/p>\n

And yet, his ascendance remains a mystery to many current and former defense officials, some of whom were allowed to speak anonymously for this story to avoid retaliation.<\/p>\n

Over the last week, Hegseth has fired two handpicked aides and longtime friends, ostensibly over a leaks investigation, which they deny. His chief of staff, Joe Kasper, will also soon transition to a new role, Hegseth said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Buria has gone from carrying the secretary\u2019s bags to now attending meetings with foreign counterparts and giving Hegseth advice on matters from personnel to media strategy. Some current and former officials are wondering whether he\u2019s qualified for the new job, and how a secretary so intent on removing Biden-era appointees came to trust one so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cProximity is power,\u201d a source familiar with the internal dynamics said. \u201cHe was around the secretary more than anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Body man\u2019<\/h3>\n

Buria started the year as the secretary\u2019s junior military assistant, a post he took on last April for Hegseth\u2019s predecessor, Lloyd Austin.<\/p>\n

The role \u2014 abbreviated as \u201cJMA\u201d \u2014 is a prestigious assignment, often reserved for promising young officers destined for successful careers in the military services. But in practice much of the work is procedural.<\/p>\n

Multiple sources described the job as a \u201cbody man,\u201d tasked with shepherding the secretary\u2019s documents and equipment nearly at all times. If Hegseth needs to take a call, for example, it\u2019s Buria\u2019s responsibility to get him the phone.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the role ends, though. Unlike more senior military or civilian aides, the JMA doesn\u2019t usually shape the substance of the secretary\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Two former defense officials described Buria as apolitical, industrious and professional, even if he at times showed interest in more senior jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would have preferred other roles to the junior military assistant,\u201d one former official said of Buria. \u201cThat much was clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the former official continued, working directly with the secretary of defense is a competitive environment that rewards ambitious people. It\u2019s normal for those on the team, even at more junior levels, to want more.<\/p>\n

His opportunity to do so came in January, when Hegseth was narrowly confirmed as Austin\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n

Hegseth entered the job with no experience in government and a relatively junior military career, retiring as a major. As a media personality, he often argued that general and flag officers had themselves become political, obsessed with diversity under the Biden administration.<\/p>\n

In February, when Hegseth began firing such officers \u2014 including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of naval operations and Air Force vice chief of staff \u2014 he also removed his own senior military assistant, who was first appointed by Austin.<\/p>\n

Buria survived the firings, and in a highly unusual move became the acting senior military assistant, normally reserved for three-star officers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It keeps going on like this. The media’s take always seems to be; When the Trump Admin fires Biden Admin appointees, that’s wrong and evil, and when the Trump Admin retains Biden Admin appointees, that too is wrong and evil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SECDEF Hegseth’s office is in the midst of a couple of scandals. We talked recently about … Hegseth’s body man’s qualifications questioned<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":168839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[331,5,122,226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-168838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marines","category-politics","category-veterans-in-politics","category-veterans-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=168838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/168839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=168838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=168838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=168838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}