Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blocked at least six Army officers from promotion to two-star general, the latest in a growing pattern of leadership overhauls that has drawn criticism from lawmakers in both parties.
A person familiar with the matter told The Hill on Tuesday that Hegseth struck the officers from the promotion roster, a list that, under standard procedure, had already cleared a military promotions board. The Pentagon did not name the officers or offer a public explanation for the removals. Hegseth's office did not respond to The Hill's request for comment.
The move came just days after Hegseth blocked four other Army officers from ascending to one-star general, some of whom had ties to Gen. Randy George, the former Army chief of staff whom Hegseth ousted in early April, and Gen. Chris Donahue, the former commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa who retired earlier this summer. None of the removed officers were under investigation or facing misconduct allegations, and no formal explanation was provided to military leadership, Fox News reported.
The six removals bring Hegseth's intervention into military promotions to a scale that has few modern precedents. He has now blocked officers across the Army, Navy, and Air Force, fired more than two dozen senior military leaders, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and forced out or sidelined officials who pushed back.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell issued a statement Wednesday dismissing the coverage.
"This narrative is worn out and manufactured. It is time for reporters to move on and find something accurate to type about. Promotion recommendations sent to the Secretary of War have always been recommendations, never mandates. It is widely understood across the building, including by the very reporter writing this story, that the Secretary has the final statutory authority to review and approve these rosters."
Parnell added that "all senior military leaders serve at the pleasure of the President and Secretary" and called the idea that promotion lists cannot be altered "ridiculous," arguing that "every single Secretary has exercised this exact prerogative."
Federal law does give the commander in chief authority to remove officers' names from a promotion list, under Section 618 of the U.S. Code. And Hegseth told Congress in April that "every officer serves at the pleasure of the president, and when they need to be removed in order to ensure we have the right leadership in those services, I will make those calls."
But the scope and pace of Hegseth's interventions go well beyond what previous defense secretaries have done with that authority. Earlier this year, he pulled four Army officers, two women and two Black men, from a one-star promotion list, a decision that prompted then-Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to push back. Just The News reported that the White House began reviewing that decision after Driscoll initially declined to carry out the removals, creating an internal clash that caught senior administration officials' attention.
Driscoll ultimately resigned, handing his resignation to the White House on Monday, just one day before the latest round of promotion blocks became public. His departure capped a months-long turf war with Hegseth over the direction of Army leadership.
The Army is not the only service branch feeling the pressure. Hegseth blocked promotions of nine Navy officers who had been selected by a board of senior admirals, a group that included three women, two Black men, and four white men. He has also removed multiple senior military leaders outright, including Gen. Charles Q. Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Adm. Linda Fagan, Gen. James Slife, and Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, the Washington Examiner reported.
In a separate case earlier this year, Hegseth directed Driscoll to fire Army Col. Dave Butler, a senior public affairs official who had served as a strategic adviser with ties to former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley. Butler's name sat on a promotion list alongside roughly three dozen other officers whose advancement had been stalled for months. Driscoll reportedly resisted the order for months before complying. Butler chose retirement rather than remain in limbo.
Hegseth has framed the overhaul as a necessary culture change. At a congressional hearing on April 30, he said that transforming the department's culture is "challenging" with "the same people who are a part of or in that department", a signal that broad personnel turnover was part of his strategy from the start.
Pentagon spokesman Parnell has repeatedly used the same line to defend the approach: "Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, meritocracy reigns supreme at the War Department."
Not all Republicans have lined up behind Hegseth. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, slammed him in late July for firing more than two dozen senior military officers and blocking promotions.
"The United States military is one of the greatest meritocracies in the free world. We need to make sure that it stays that way."
Collins's criticism carried weight because it came from a senior Republican with direct control over defense spending. Other Republicans in Congress have also been unnerved by the pace of removals, though most have not spoken publicly.
Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, sided with Hegseth. He told The Hill on Tuesday that "from what I understand, there was concern over them being political. We serve at the goodwill of the president."
Hegseth's standing inside the administration has faced its own turbulence. He reportedly drew scrutiny from President Trump over munitions shortfalls during the Iran conflict, and his influence at the Pentagon has shifted as other Cabinet members have stepped into larger roles.
On July 15, Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Brian Schatz of Hawaii sent a three-page letter to the Pentagon inspector general demanding an independent investigation into Hegseth's promotion blocks. The letter accused Hegseth of substituting personal judgments about race and gender for the military's own vetting process.
"Secretary Hegseth's alleged use of his personal views and perceptions on race and gender to interfere with the promotion process completely nullifies the extensive, competitive, rigorous and merit-based vetting process of candidates that the selection boards put forward."
The senators added that "it is clear his determinations are antithetical to the standards that should be assessed when considering promotions." Whether the Pentagon inspector general has taken any action on the letter remains unknown.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Hegseth targeted seven officers on the two-star promotion list, one more than The Hill's source indicated, and that two of the seven are Black and two are female. NBC News reported that several of the officers on the list are logisticians who manage supply and maintenance, roles that sit far from the political controversies Hegseth has cited as justification for his overhaul.
Democrats have pushed the confrontation beyond oversight letters. Rep. Jake Auchincloss has pledged an impeachment push against Hegseth if Democrats win the midterms, a sign that the political stakes around Pentagon personnel decisions are only climbing.
The lack of stated reasons for the latest removals leaves a central question unanswered. If the Defense Secretary's goal is meritocracy, the officers who earned board approval, and the public, deserve to know what standard replaced the one the military already applied.
Meanwhile, prediction markets have tracked Hegseth's political durability through a string of crises. Each time, he has survived. But surviving and leading are two different things, and a military that cannot promote its own officers without political guesswork is a military that will eventually stop producing leaders worth promoting.
