With a vote, but without a voice: the senior commanders of the Spanish Armed Forces

They are practically invisible to the vast majority of Spaniards. Even for those who learn about everything that happens in Spain and in the world through print and electronic newspapers, radio stations, television channels and social networks. They are only known in their environment and in their sphere of power, of course, but outside their sphere of responsibility they are practically mute and ethereal.

While it is usual in the boards of directors of companies, entities and official institutions for some of the people on them - for example, the secretary - to have a voice but no vote, in the case in question it is exactly the opposite: they can vote - in general, regional and local elections... - but they have to receive the go-ahead to be able to communicate personally with the society they serve.

Those who have the right to vote, but do not have the right to speak, to intervene in forums open to the public or to answer for themselves to the media about the exercise of their responsibilities - unless they are expressly authorised to do so - are the Chief of Staff of the Army (JEME), General Amador Enseñat, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force (JEMA), General Javier Salto, and the Chief of Staff of the Navy (AJEMA), Admiral Antonio Martorell.

The low profile to which the three are subjected - more than low, a submarine profile - is much earlier and has nothing to do with the blockade dictated by Moncloa a couple of months ago on the presence of high-ranking officials of the State Administration - mainly diplomats and serving military officers - at events and in the mass media to discuss the war in Ukraine.

As is well known, the consequence of the latter has been that newspaper and magazine editors, as well as radio and television programme producers, have had to turn to retired diplomats and retired generals and admirals, who for weeks have been answering interviews and presenting their knowledge and views on news programmes, talk shows and special programmes devoted to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Back to the Chiefs of Staff. It should be remembered that they hold the rank of undersecretary and occupy the highest post that a professional military officer can attain in the Spanish Armed Forces. The position of chief of staff of the Army, Air Force or Navy means that they are ultimately responsible for administering, managing and training the land, sea and air forces.

It also requires them to provide the best possible living conditions and work-life balance for their men and women, as well as to sustain the infrastructures, logistical equipment and weapons system at their disposal. Despite all of the above, the three of them are unknown to the Spanish people.

Not even the major state-owned media - such as the EFE news agency, Radio Nacional de España or Televisión Española - have picked up their opinions or interviewed them since who knows when. They are habitually absent from the pages of the national daily newspapers -ABC, El Mundo, El País, La Razón, La Vanguardia, 20 Minutos- and the electronic media, such as El Confidencial, El Español, Ok Diario, Huffington Post, El Diario.es, Público...

It is more difficult to listen to them on the morning or afternoon radio magazines broadcast by the four main national generalist private channels - Cadena SER, COPE, Es.Radio, Onda Cero - or to see them on the big private television channels, such as Antena 3, La Sexta, Telecinco.... It is a situation of being relegated that has no parallel in the rest of Western countries, much less in the United States or Canada.  

One might ask: have the three top commanders of the army, air force and navy just taken up their respective posts and do they not have a deep understanding of what they are dealing with? Far from it. General Salto, at the head of the Air Force, has been in the post since April 2017, no less than five years ago. Admiral Martorell took office in February 2021 and General Enseñat has been in charge of the Army since October last year.

Each of them has accumulated around 40 years in positions of the utmost trust and have a brilliant record of service in positions of command of great responsibility. In addition, they have extensive experience in international operations and all of them have academic qualifications that are intellectually demanding. 

So are they shy, do they lack public speaking skills or perhaps they have something to hide? On the contrary. None of them is faint-hearted and all three are accustomed to making presentations to national and foreign audiences of all types and levels. Moreover, they have many achievements and interesting responsibilities to be proud of and to publicise so that Spaniards can be proud of their armed forces.

In short, despite being three of the four most senior military officers in Spain, they have not been read in the press or heard on the radio for a long time. Nor is their professional opinion picked up when it comes to non-political issues, for example, on the military profession, new technologies, innovation, geo-strategy, in interventions on television programmes, whether on private, national institutional or regional channels.

But there is more. They are also invisible and mute even for parliamentary purposes. At least since Pedro Sánchez became Prime Minister in June 2018 and during the current legislature, none of the three Chiefs of Staff have appeared before the Defence Committees of the Congress and Senate to report, take stock of their management in the field of their responsibilities and explain their future projects. It seems that the department headed by Margarita Robles does not consider it appropriate for them to explain their work.

In France, for example, not only do their counterparts appear before the National Assembly and the Senate, but so do the senior commanders of the land, naval and air forces and a long list of generals and admirals to give an account of their management and plans. Why not in Spain? 

During the Third Republic, under the presidency of Adolphe Thiers, a law was passed in 1872 that prevented the French military from exercising their right to vote at the ballot box, which is why the French army was known at the time as La Grande Muette, i.e., The Great Mute. But the ban was abolished many decades ago and the French armed forces now have an enviable public communication structure.

In Spain, the only high-ranking military commander who usually appears once or at most twice a year before the Defence Committees, especially to report on his involvement in defence budgets, is the Chief of Defence Staff (JEMAD). Since January 2021, this has been Admiral General Teodoro Lopez Calderón, from whom emanate the guidelines to be followed by the aforementioned Chiefs of the Land, Sea and Air Chiefs of Staff.

The second position in the Defence organisational structure after Minister Margarita Robles - who is the focus of all the media attention - the JEMAD is responsible for the strategic conduct of military operations and for defining priorities for obtaining and sustaining capabilities. This means that all land, sea and air units and joint command and control, intelligence, telecommunications, electronic warfare and cyberspace structures are under his command. 

Although he must also request the Defence Minister's approval to give interviews to national media or to speak in relevant public forums, so far he has received the approval of Margarita Robles to attend requests from ABC and El Mundo. And on 5 April he took part in the New Economy Forum, where he spoke about the uncertainties of the strategic environment that loom over Spain's areas of interest, the European Union and NATO.

Is it necessary for the Spanish military leadership to be the subject of parliamentary and media interest? No, but it is convenient from time to time. This is what happens in other countries that share our value system. The balance between the possible actors in the department's communication is a virtue that benefits the Armed Forces as a whole. The opposite, and even more so its absence, in the 21st century, is out of place.