US Defense Secretary summons hundreds of generals and admirals to meeting - WP
Kyiv • UNN
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered hundreds of generals and admirals to gather next week without warning or explanation at a Marine Corps base in Virginia. The unusual directive has caused concern and confusion among the top military brass.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered hundreds of US Army generals and admirals to gather next week without warning — and without stating a reason — at a Marine Corps base in Virginia, sowing confusion and alarm after the Trump administration fired numerous high-ranking officials this year, UNN reports with reference to The Washington Post.
Details
According to more than a dozen people familiar with the matter, this highly unusual directive was sent to virtually all senior military commanders around the world. The directive was issued earlier this week as a government shutdown looms, and months after Hegseth's team at the Pentagon announced plans for a massive consolidation of senior military command.
In a statement on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed that Hegseth "will address his senior officials early next week," but provided no further details. Parnell, a senior adviser to the Secretary of Defense, expressed no concerns about The Washington Post's reporting on the meeting scheduled for Tuesday in Quantico, Virginia.
The publication notes that there are about 800 generals and admirals living in the United States and dozens of other countries and time zones. According to people familiar with the matter, Hegseth's order applies to all senior officers with the rank of brigadier general or higher, or their Navy equivalent, who hold command positions, and their senior advisers. Typically, these officers control hundreds or thousands of enlisted personnel.
Among those expected to attend Hegseth's meeting are top commanders in conflict zones and senior military leaders stationed across Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific, said people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The order does not apply to senior military officers holding staff positions.
No one who spoke to The Post could recall a Secretary of Defense ever ordering so many military generals and admirals to gather in such a manner. Some said it raised security concerns.
"People are very concerned. They have no idea what it means," one person said.
Two others expressed frustration that even many commanders stationed abroad would be required to attend. One said, "that's not how it's done."
"You don't call the top military leaders who are leading their people and global forces to an auditorium outside of Washington and not explain to them why/what the topic or agenda is," the person said, using the abbreviation for general officer or flag officer.
"Are we pulling every general and flag officer out of the Pacific right now?" one US official said. "It's all weird."
Let's add
The publication adds that these orders come as Hegseth has unilaterally made massive changes at the Pentagon recently, including ordering a 20 percent reduction in the number of generals, firing senior leaders without cause, and issuing a new high-profile order to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War.
Trump renamed the US Department of Defense to the Department of War05.09.25, 23:33 • 7308 views
Senior administration officials are also preparing a new national defense strategy that is expected to make homeland defense the country's top priority after several years of China being identified as the primary national security threat to the United States. Some officials familiar with the travel order said they believe this issue may be discussed.
Hegseth's May directive to cut about 100 generals and admirals also caused concern among senior military leadership. At the time, he called for a "minimum" 20 percent reduction in the number of four-star officers — the highest military rank — on active duty and a corresponding number of generals in the National Guard. There will also be at least another 10 percent reduction in the total number of generals and admirals across all forces.
Last month, Hegseth fired Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; Vice Admiral Nancy LaCour, chief of Navy Reserve; and Rear Admiral Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who commanded Naval Special Warfare Command. No specific reason was given in these cases.
These dismissals were the latest in a broader purge of top positions in national security agencies. Since taking office, the Trump administration has also fired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown Jr.; Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti; Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan; and Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force General James Slife, among others. The list contains a disproportionate number of women.
General David Allvin, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, announced last month that he would retire in November after being asked to step down.