Col. Nathan McCormack, the Levant and Egypt branch chief at the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s J5 planning directorate, was temporarily removed from his post after the website Jewish News Syndicate unearthed a series of his social posts in which he attacked the state of Israel.
McCormack spoke publicly about “Netanyahu and his Judeo-supremacist cronies,” in Washington, which has condoned Israel’s “bullying” and “bad behavior,” and pro-Israel activists in the United States who prioritize supporting the nation “over our actual foreign interests.”
JNS has learned that McCormack, who has been in his current role since June 2024, according to the LinkedIn account, has also attacked the Jewish state, calling it a “death cult” and the “worst ally” of the U.S. on a semi-anonymous account on X, where he has written hundreds of posts since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas.
“The Western states go to great lengths to avoid criticism of Israel, much out of Holocaust guilt,” McCormack wrote in the spring. “Israel’s actions over decades have prompted the accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide.”
“Netanyahu and his Judeo-supremacist cronies are determined to prolong the conflict for their own goals: either to remain in power or to annex the land,” he added on social media in May.
In a post in response to the possibility that Gazans could potentially find refuge outside the Strip, McCormack wrote that Israel wants to “expel them and cleanse ‘Eretz Israel’ of Palestinians.”
On Oct. 11, 2023, four days after the Hamas attack, McCormack asserted that “Israel has an absolute right to respond militarily” and “civilians may legally be caught in the crossfire” but that “Israel’s responses always (always—not hyperbole) disproportionately target Palestinian civilians.”
Despite some attempts to anonymize his account, McCormack has repeatedly revealed his name and job title on the platform and has posted photos of himself that match his LinkedIn profile and include his uniformed name tag.
A Defense Department contractor who interacted with the colonel described his posts as “dangerous.” “This is the kind of bitter oversharing I’d expect from someone who doesn’t know better,” the contractor said. “But at his level and under his own name and likeness? It’s mind-boggling. We have enough opsec and public perception problems as is.”
“He’s an easy mark for foreign intelligence agencies,” the contractor concluded. “Publicly expressing such radical views that undermine the president’s policy opens the door for bad actors to exploit.” A few hours after the JNS scoop, McCormack was temporarily removed from his post.
“The information on the X account does not reflect the position of the Joint Staff or the Department of Defense,” said a Pentagon official, “Our global alliances and partnerships are vital to our national security”.
