Department of Defense regulations prohibit service members from making public statements that imply official endorsement or contradict U.S. foreign policy.
A senior U.S. Army officer has been removed from his position within the Joint Chiefs of Staff after it was discovered that he authored a series of inflammatory and anti-Israel posts on social media under a semi-anonymous account, defense officials confirmed.
Col. Nathan McCormack, who served as the Levant and Egypt branch chief in the Joint Staff’s J5 Strategic Planning Directorate since June 2024, was reassigned pending further investigation.
His posts, which included accusations against Israel and the U.S.-Israel alliance, were made under a now-deleted X (formerly Twitter) account which JBN has obtained archived copies of.
The Pentagon confirmed that McCormack’s statements “do not reflect the position of the Joint Staff or the Department of Defense.” The matter has been referred to the Army for further review, according to a defense official.
Among the posts attributed to McCormack:
He referred to Israel as a “death cult” and criticized the U.S.-Israel alliance as being overly influenced by “Judeo-supremacist cronies.”
He claimed that the U.S. had become a “proxy of Israel” and accused American officials of “prolonging the conflict” in the region for political purposes.
In one post, McCormack defended the Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, writing:
“The Gaza Health Ministry is generally considered credible by the UN, NGOs, and governments. You don’t have to like it, but it’s reality.”
That statement drew particular concern from military colleagues, given the widely reported manipulation of casualty figures by Hamas through the Health Ministry during wartime.
Responding to the idea of relocating Gaza’s population, McCormack wrote that Israel wants “to expel them and cleanse ‘Eretz Israel’ (Hebrew for Land of Israel) of ethnic Palestinians.”
A former colleague told reporters the posts were “irresponsible and dangerous,” noting they could undermine military cohesion and expose McCormack to exploitation by hostile foreign intelligence services.
McCormack’s removal underscores growing scrutiny over the use of personal social media by active-duty military personnel.
Image - JNS/: Sgt. Kani Ronningen/U.S. Army photo