The Dispute Index

Frank Kendall

Portrait of Frank Kendall
Andy Morataya and Wayne Clark / U.S. Air ForceSourcePublic domain: U.S. Air ForceResized only.

Frank Kendall III served as Secretary of the Air Force from July 2021 to January 2025. He was earlier Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics and spent 11 years as an active-duty U.S. Army officer.

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What DI has documented

DI has documented statements by Frank Kendall on Drug Policy, Government Transparency, and International Relations, among other topics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.

Topics in this coverage

Statements by Frank Kendall

Portrait of Frank Kendall

Frank Kendall

Role at the time: Former Secretary of the Air Force, interviewed on ABC's This Week

Condemned

Statement summary

Frank Kendall said that when officers are asked to do something "illegal, immoral, wrong, or even unconstitutional", "The most egregious example is the strikes on drug boats".

“it's not accurate when you're asked to do something that's illegal, immoral, wrong, or even unconstitutional. The most egregious example is the strikes on drug boats.”
Watch the original video (opens in a new tab)‘I couldn’t serve this administration’: Fmr. Air Force secretary on Pentagon turmoil · ABC News5-minute interview clip; passage on the drug-boat strikes
Why we used this label

Measured against the strikes, Kendall names them as the most egregious example of an order that is illegal, immoral, wrong or unconstitutional, which is an express condemnation.

Read statementWas the U.S. military's September 19 Caribbean boat strike justified by evidence of narcotics trafficking?

A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.