Admiral Robert Burke rose to the highest rank possible in the 21st century US Navy: 4 stars. When Burke retired in 2022 after 39 years in the Navy, he was just 62. His base pay on retirement was about $187,000. His retirement pay would have been 87 percent of that. Not Elon Musk money, but Burke had the benefit of living a life of command that, as the Navy’s second-highest ranking officer, had other perks like significant housing stipends and other benefits. The DOJ alleges that, for Burke, it also meant a massive bribe in the form of private employment for procuring Navy contracts.
On May 31st, Burke, along with two co-conspirators, were arrested in what seemed to me to be one of the dumbest, most obvious bribery schemes possible. Robert Menendez is a mastermind compared to Burke and his co-defendants.
In 2021, Burke was commanding Naval operations in Europe, Russia, and most of…
