Washington - "Jerusalem" dot com - Saeed Erekat - The American Axios website revealed that four current and former Israeli officials and officials revealed to the site that the US Department of Defense (The Pentagon) is considering downgrading the rank of the person responsible for security coordination with the Palestinian Authority from the rank of three-star brigade to the rank of colonel. .

The site says: "The US State Department and the Israeli Ministry of Defense are concerned that such a decision could harm security cooperation between the United States and Palestine, and damage security coordination between Israeli and Palestinian officials as tensions escalate in the occupied West Bank."

General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in recent months laid out a plan to reduce the number of generals and admirals under the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, current and former US officials say.

The Trump administration had decided (in 2017) that a large part of the reduction should come from reducing the number of US generals and admirals deployed at bases and positions around the world.

According to the site, "the plan includes downgrading the rank of the US security coordinator with the Palestinians from the rank of three-star brigade to the rank of colonel, and the ranks of the US military attaches in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will also be reduced, according to current and former US officials."

The position of the US Security Coordinator (USSC) was created in 2005 in an effort to rebuild and reform the Palestinian security services after the second intifada, and the coordinator has always been a three-star US general reporting to the Secretary of State and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as rank allows. The Coordinator has direct access to the top military and political echelons of the United States, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority.

The Security Coordinator's team also includes military experts from eight different NATO countries.

According to the site, US officials (from the State Department) were opposed to the Pentagon's plan, especially with regard to the issue of the position of the USSC coordinator with the Palestinians, but also regarding other positions in the Middle East. Secretary of State Tony Blinken sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirming his ministry's reservations about the plan, and the US ambassador to Israel, Tom Naides, urged the Pentagon not to implement the plan and asked other senior officials, including CIA Director Bill Burns, give your opinion.

According to the site's report, the current US security coordinator, Lieutenant General (Major General) Michael Wenzel, said in a closed session at a think tank in Washington several weeks ago that he was concerned that the job cut might harm the mission and damage security coordination between Israel and Palestine.

Colin Kahl, the US undersecretary of defense for policy, is expected to present Austin later this week with various options for retaining the National Security Council and other positions in the Middle East, said a former US official.

A senior Israeli official told the site that the Israeli government is also concerned about the repercussions of the plan. The Palestinians also object to it.

Dan Shapiro, the former US ambassador to Israel, who is currently serving as a distinguished fellow in Middle East programs at the Atlantic Council, said, “At a time when Israelis, Palestinians, and many Arab countries are searching for signs that the United States remains committed to the region, the downgrading of the Council The security of the United States and other regional military attaches is meaningless."

Shapiro told the site that the US National Security Council, in particular, continues to play a critical role in maintaining Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation.

"Especially on the eve of President Biden's first trip to the region, it would send exactly the wrong message," he said.

The Biden administration seems to understand that, Shapiro added, "There are clear efforts under way to reverse these unwise decisions that they inherited."