Hegseth blocks six more Army promotions in Pentagon purge

Another six officers suddenly find their stars are out

Pete Hegseth has blocked at least six Army officers from promotion to two-star general, adding another dramatic chapter to the Defense Secretary's increasingly controversial shake-up of America's senior military leadership.

The latest removals come only days after Hegseth stopped four Army officers from advancing to one-star rank.

That means at least 10 Army promotion selections have now been blocked in a matter of days, while the Pentagon continues to experience a remarkable turnover at the top.

And the timing is difficult to ignore.

Driscoll walks — Hegseth tightens his grip

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll handed in his resignation to the White House on Monday after months of increasingly bitter tensions with Hegseth.

Driscoll had reportedly objected to several of Hegseth's decisions involving Army leadership and promotions.

Now he is leaving.

Hegseth remains.

And the Defense Secretary appears to be tightening his grip over the service branch.

Earlier this year Hegseth also removed four officers from a one-star promotion list, a move that reportedly angered Driscoll and other senior Army officials.

The Defense Secretary has separately blocked promotions involving officers in the Navy and Air Force.

Seven names targeted?

The New York Times reported that Hegseth had targeted seven officers on the latest two-star promotion list.

Two were Black and two were women.

NBC News reported that several of those selected were logisticians — officers responsible for the enormous machinery required to keep an Army functioning, from fuel and food to equipment and maintenance.

That detail is likely to fuel an already furious political argument over exactly what criteria Hegseth is using.

The Pentagon insists race and gender play no part in the decisions.

Critics aren't convinced.

A meritocracy under pressure?

The controversy has now spilled well beyond Democrats.

Senator Susan Collins, a Republican and chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has already criticised Hegseth over his firing of more than two dozen senior military officers and his intervention in promotion decisions.

"The United States military is one of the greatest meritocracies in the free world," Collins warned.

"We need to make sure that it stays that way."

That is an awkward message for Hegseth coming from inside his own political camp.

Other Republicans, however, have defended the Defense Secretary, arguing that senior officers ultimately serve at the pleasure of the president and that political loyalty can become relevant when determining military leadership.

Hegseth says the president decides

Hegseth has made his position perfectly clear.

Testifying before Congress in April, he said officers serve at the "pleasure of the president" and that he would make changes when necessary to ensure the services had the right leadership.

There is an important legal distinction, however.

Promotion boards recommend candidates, but the process ultimately remains subject to presidential authority.

So Hegseth is operating within a system in which the president has substantial power over senior military appointments.

The political question is whether that power is now being used too aggressively.

The purge question gets louder

Hegseth's supporters will argue that this is precisely what President Trump appointed him to do: break up the old Pentagon establishment and install commanders who share the administration's priorities.

His critics see something much more dangerous — a political purge of experienced officers and the erosion of the military's traditional merit-based promotion system.

Either way, the numbers are becoming difficult to overlook.

Generals have been fired.

Promotions have been blocked.

Senior officers are leaving.

And now the Army secretary himself is departing after a prolonged struggle with the Defense Secretary.

The extraordinary question hanging over the Pentagon is no longer whether Hegseth is changing the Army.

He clearly is.

The question is how many senior officers will be left standing when he has finished.

SOURCE

Conservative commentator Bill Kristol has warned that unrest inside the US military may be far deeper than is publicly visible, pointing to an extraordinary increase in leaks from senior defence circles.

His comments came less than 24 hours after Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll resigned following months of reported tensions with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth over the direction of the Army and the removal of senior officers.

Pentagon tensions are spilling into public view

According to the Wall Street Journal, Driscoll clashed with Hegseth over Army modernisation, readiness and personnel decisions, including the firing of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George.

Driscoll reportedly warned President Donald Trump that removing experienced commanders was damaging Army readiness and complicating its transformation.

Kristol said the confrontation reminded him of the George W. Bush administration in 2006, when then-Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld faced mounting criticism over the Iraq war.

‘You have to burn a lot of bridges’

Kristol argued that Hegseth’s approach has been so radical that replacing him could prove difficult for the administration.

He said anyone willing to take the job would have to accept the political fallout from continuing to fire senior generals and reshape the military along Hegseth’s lines.

“You have to be willing to burn a lot of bridges to do what Hegseth is doing,” Kristol said.

The leaks are raising a bigger question

Kristol described the volume of information reaching the media from senior military circles as “astonishing”. Yet he stressed there has not been a “literal rebellion” involving four-star generals publicly resigning and condemning the administration.

That could change if dissatisfaction among senior commanders continues to deepen.

Even Trump loyalists may be uneasy

Kristol and Sam Stein also discussed Admiral Daryl Caudle, the Chief of Naval Operations and a figure regarded as aligned with the Trump administration.

Kristol argued that if even someone like Caudle were showing signs of disagreement, it could indicate the discontent extends well beyond officers associated with previous administrations.

“The depth of discontent and the rebellion in the military is greater than one can see right now,” Kristol said.

Bill Kristol: The 'rebellion in the military may be greater than we can see'