A top adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been relieved of duty following the discovery of several anti-Israel social media posts.
U.S. Army Col. Nathan McCormack was removed from his advisory role on Israel-related matters following the discovery of the posts.
According to his LinkedIn profile, McCormack served as the Levant and Egypt branch chief within the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s J5 planning directorate. He reportedly posted several inflammatory comments on his X account, including calling Israel a “death cult” and referring to its government as “Netanyahu and his Judeo-supremacist cronies,” according to the Jewish News Syndicate.
A Joint Staff official told The Daily Wire that McCormack has been removed from his role and the case has been referred to the U.S. Army for further review and action.
The official emphasized that McCormack’s social media posts do not represent the views of the Joint Staff or the Department of Defense. “Our global alliances and partnerships are vital to our national security, enhancing our collective defense, deterrence, and operational reach,” the official said.
McCormack deleted his semi-autonomous X account after the news broke.
The J5 directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff provides strategic guidance to the chairman on military planning, policy, and broader national security matters. In his role, McCormack was responsible for preparing senior military leaders for engagements with partner nations, including Israel.
McCormack made the posts using an X account under the name “Nate,” where he frequently referenced his job and even shared an image of his Meritorious Service Medal certificate. Since taking on his role — which his LinkedIn profile indicates began in June 2024 — he has repeatedly posted about his views on Israel, particularly following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israeli civilians.
“The Western states go to great lengths to avoid criticism of Israel, much out of Holocaust guilt,” McCormack tweeted in April.
In May, he posted that “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.” In April 2024, McCormack even questioned if the United States was a proxy of Israel.
“I’ve lately been considering whether we might be Israel’s proxy and not realized it yet,” he posted. “Our worst ‘ally.’ We get literally nothing out of the ‘partnership’ other than the enmity of millions of people in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.”
While still actively serving as a U.S. Army officer, McCormack publicly expressed his views in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians, before he began his assignment with the Joint Chiefs.
“I agree that Israel has an absolute right to respond militarily, and that civilians may legally be caught in the crossfire, but you are ignoring the requirement of proportionality,” McCormack posted. “Israel’s responses always (always—not hyperbole) disproportionately target Palestinian civilians.”
McCormack also used the account to share details about his official responsibilities, stating in August 2024 that “we” had warned Israel it would be “fuxked” if it escalated its conflict with Lebanon.
Despite the warning, Israel launched an invasion two months later that dealt a major blow to the terrorist group Hezbollah. He additionally posted about his conversations and briefings with officers from the Israeli Defense Forces.
On Monday, McCormack reportedly claimed the Department of Defense endorses the casualty figures from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
“Along with the World Health Organization and United Nations, we (Department of Defense, Department of State and the U.S. Intelligence Community) consider the Gaza Health Ministry figures to be generally reliable (though not precise),” he wrote, “but probably less so now than they were originally due to the general destruction and chaos in Gaza.”