Nothing in Joe Biden’s decades of government service was so contemptible, so unworthy of what the nation demands of its elected and unelected officials, as those disgraceful, last-minute pardons for his family and cronies – even while waiting in the White House for his successor’s arrival. In one breath-taking, all-too-improbable swoop, Mr. Biden revealed everything that his political and media allies stridently insisted for years were only the addled fantasies of his far-right opponents. And yet suddenly there was the Biden crime family standing naked and shivering in the clear, brutal sunlight of an arctic Inauguration Day. Highlighted by such infamy, the name Biden may ultimately rank alongside the Gambino’s, the Soprano’s or even Benedict Arnold himself; all were fellow-travelers governed only by self-interest.

Since only the guilty require pardons, the real question now is the extent of those artfully concealed damages. Since we must now assume that a succession of Bidenesque con artists systematically collaborated to acquire and conceal millions (or was it billions?) in ill-gotten gains, what American treasures must we now assume have been compromised, what mission-critical secrets sold at auction to empires grimly determined to purge us from the map? As one of their primary responsibilities, surely Mr. Trump’s new security team should be tasked with conducting a pitiless damage assessment. Historical precedent: When the badly startled Truman administration belatedly discovered that the Soviets – far from being loyal wartime allies - had systematically stolen the secrets of atomic bomb. In Calder Walton’s magisterial history, the surprise to US intelligence was so profound that it “blew apart the postwar international order and permanently changed relations between East and West.” https://www.amazon.com/Spies-Epic-Intelligence-Between-East/dp/1668000695 p. 181.

If there are degrees of infamy, then surely General Mark Milley’s name should be included in any damage assessment, regardless of his parallel pardon from Joe Biden. It was not enough that General Milley besmirched the name and reputation of Donald Trump, the president to whom the general owed uncompromising loyalty. First-order questions should include: Was General Milley involved directly or indirectly in the operations of the Biden crime family? Did he have any reason to suspect that the intimate, years-long business contacts between the Bidens and the PRC could have compromised American defense technology – or even our high-level intelligence sources and methods? If that sounds slightly paranoid, then remember that General Milley was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - the highest position in the American military establishment. In re-defining those duties with landmark legislation, Congress made clear tin 1986 hat the Chairman was directly responsible to the President, faithfully representing our armed services to their civilian masters. But that linkage runs in two directions: When you have clear evidence that the Big Guy has been compromised, then wisdom alone suggests the need for follow-on determinations. Are his closest associates involved as well?

The story about the Biden pardons was out-of-sight for most of Inauguration Day. Like millions of other Americans, my attention was captured by what our 47^th President had to say about “the new American Golden Age” or “the revolution in common sense” that seemed to attract universal applause from every audience, no matter how frost-bitten. As a Texan, I cheered loudest when Mr. Trump swore to rebuild our badly overrun borders, to detain and expel criminal aliens and terrorist gangs like MS-13.  It was not until the abbreviated First Honors ceremony - hastily re-located to the Capitol Hill Visitor’s Center - that I was visually reminded of just how small and hard-pressed our military has become. Each of our Armed Forces was represented by a platoon-sized honor guard; with flags and bands, probably less than 500 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.

Those folks, my beloved comrades-in-arms, today number less than half of one-percent of the American people! For over thirty years, the US Army pledged us to “fight out-numbered and win.” But I also learned an important truth from my Navy buddies, picked up from Admiral Lord Nelson, at the Battle of Trafalgar, way back during the Age of Sail: “Numbers annihilate.” Whether you are talking about drones, stealth fighters, tanks, ships or boots on the ground, those principles still apply to what the Soviets called “the constantly operating factors” of friction in the fog of war.  Having voted for him three times, I will keep President Trump in my prayers, never forgetting that promises are one thing but that history is something else again.

Thanks, Mr. President and God bless you!

COL (Ret.) Ken Allard is a former West Point faculty member, Dean of the National War College and NBC News military analyst.