Milley Calls for ‘Hard Look’ at Renaming Bases Honoring Confederates

WASHINGTON — The top military official in the United States called on Thursday for “taking a hard look” at changing the names of Army bases honoring Confederate officers who had fought against the Union during the Civil War, disagreeing with President Trump and further exposing a divide between the military and the president.

Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Mr. Trump’s senior military adviser, told a House hearing that the base names had become an issue of “divisiveness.”

Ten Army bases that honor Confederate generals who fought to defend the slaveholding South have been the focus of a growing movement for change.

“There is no place in our armed forces for manifestations, or symbols of racism, bias or discrimination,” General Milley said.The American Civil War, he said, “was an act of treason at the time, and those officers turned their backs on their oath” to the country.