News/Commentary

Hegseth set to remove generals and senior officers – report

February 20, 2025 | | Print Article

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly preparing to fire a whole host of generals and officers, particularly those who were close to his disgrace of a predecessor, Lloyd Austin.

The generals and officers up for termination are on a list pieced together by top Pentagon officials and shared this week with congressional Republicans, according to NBC News.

“Most of those on the list have been closely associated with former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin … have worked on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives or have voiced opinions that Trump’s allies viewed as politically out of line with his agenda,” NBC News notes.

“The generals and other officers are expected to be replaced with nominees for their positions who are closer to Hegseth and viewed as more aligned with Trump’s agenda,” its reporting continues.

Days before being nominated to his post, Hegseth said in November that “woke” officials in the Department of Defense (DOD) need to be uprooted.

“First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chief,” he said at the time, referencing CQ Brown. “But any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI woke s— has got to go. Either you’re in for warfighting, and that’s it. That’s the only litmus test we care about.”

President Donald Trump had reportedly been intent on firing Brown himself, up until the two met in December, and Brown reportedly ingratiated himself enough with the then-president-elect to at least temporarily win his support.

Hegseth later seemed to backtrack on his desire to fire Brown.

“[O]n his first day at the Pentagon as secretary … [o]n Jan. 27, Brown saluted Hegseth as his motorcade arrived, then shook his hand as the two exchanged pleasantries,” according to ABC News. “With Brown by his side, Hegseth approached a line of reporters and took several questions, including one on whether he intends to fire the general.”

“I’m standing with him right now,” Hegseth said in response. “I look forward to working with him.”

As of late February, Brown was still on staff, and it was unclear whether his name was included in the fabled list.

On Wednesday, several Pentagon officials confirmed to ABC News that Hegseth had sent a memo to DOD offices ordering that eight percent of their budget (or $50 billion) be set aside for President Trump’s priorities.

“To achieve our mandate from President Trump, we are guided by his priorities including Securing our borders, building the Iron Dome for America, and ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing,” acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert G. Salesses said in a Wednesday statement.

“Accordingly, Secretary Hegseth has directed a review to identify offsets from the Biden Administration’s FY26 budget that could be realigned from low-impact and low-priority Biden-legacy programs to align with President Trump’s America First priorities for our national defense,” he added.

Salesses added that the Pentagon will, moving forward, eliminate “unnecessary spending” and focus only on the president’s priorities.

“Through our budgets, the Department of Defense will once again resource warfighting and cease unnecessary spending that set our military back under the previous administration, including through so-called ‘climate change’ and other woke programs, as well as excessive bureaucracy,” he said. “The time for preparation is over — we must act swiftly to deter current and impending threats and make the best use of taxpayers’ dollars in doing so.”

The only catch is that congressional Republicans just put out a budget plan that would increase defense spending by $100 billion. Moreover, Hegseth recently made it clear that he envisions the U.S. spending even more money than the Biden administration vis-a-vis defense.

“I think the US needs to spend more than the Biden administration was willing to, who historically underinvested in the capabilities of our military,” he said.

Vivek Saxena
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