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The former defense auditing official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, estimated the cost of travel alone in the millions of dollars.

“Spending millions of dollars to jerk the entire military’s leadership to a short speech seems wasteful unless it’s an emergency,” the official said….

The timing of the event has been of particular concern: The speech is set for Sept. 30, the last day of the fiscal year. If there is a government shutdown, it could leave key staff stranded in Virginia as military commands across the globe are juggling the security implications of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Israel’s renewed offensive in Gaza, new military operations in the Caribbean against drug cartels and the continued threat to U.S. personnel in the Middle East, where the Houthis and other Iranian-backed militias continue to fire missiles and drones at U.S. interests.

It's not just wasteful — it’s also dangerous. If a risk-loving adversary really wanted to debilitate the ability of the United States to exercise military leadership, then all they would have to do is find some way of attacking Quantico while all U.S. generals and admirals were assembled.