Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing heat from a key House Republican as he continues reshaping the Pentagon to fit Donald Trump’s agenda.
Rep. Don Bacon, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told CNN on Sunday that the firings at the Pentagon and the reported campaign of Hegseth slow-walking or denying promotions to senior officers, disproportionately women and people of color, was harming America’s fighting forces.
The criticism comes as the administration tries to wrap up a war with Iran that the president’s critics are calling a tactical defeat.
His comments follow another surprise resignation at the Pentagon. General Chris Donahue is stepping down as commander of U.S. forces in Africa and Europe after just a year and a half in the job, opting for retirement. Donahue was the U.S. commander who oversaw the final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan during the Biden administration, boarding the last plane out of Hamid Karzai International Airport.
“I think it’s caused damage to the Pentagon, to our overall military,” Bacon said of the firings of around two dozen senior commanders, including the head of U.S. Cyber Command Gen. Timothy Haugh, whom he called “irreplaceable.”
“I think it’s politicized the process [of promotions] unnecessarily,” he continued. “The way he’s done [firings], it’s wholesale, and I think it’s hurt the military.”
More than two dozen top officials and commanders have been forced out of top posts, resigned or been fired since Hegseth took over the Department of Defense last year.
Some of the more high-profile firings have included Gen. CQ Brown, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Randy George, the Army’s chief of staff. CNN has reported that perceived closeness to the former Joint Chiefs chairman. Gen. Mark Milley, as well as the Biden administration’s Covid policies, were red flags that could land candidates on the list of delayed promotions or even potential termination. George previously served as an aide to Joe Biden’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, and had reportedly clashed with Hegseth for months.
The firings did not slow down amid Trump’s war with Iran, which began in February.
In April, the president fired Navy Secretary John Phelan, even as the Navy was conducting operations, including a blockade in and around the Strait of Hormuz, a key arena in the ongoing dispute between the U.S. and Iran.
The administration has sought to tout the strength and effectiveness of the U.S. military in achieving Trump’s objectives concerning Iran, but even Republicans in the president’s party are doubting that narrative publicly.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the administration’s most vocal GOP critics on Iran, told CBS on Sunday: “The fact is that a medium-sized power at this point is perceived to have fought a superpower to a draw, requiring some measure of accommodation of we, the superpower, and we spent $29 billion and we have 13 Americans dead.”
In his CNN interview, Bacon added that he’d known some of the dismissed commanders personally, and vouched for their credentials and professionalism.
“He’s fired about 20 admirals and generals. I’ve worked with some of them personally…these are great people. We had the head of U.S. Cyber Command fired for no reason,” said Bacon.
In June, it was reported by CNN that a sense of paranoia and fear was gripping the top ranks at the Pentagon, a direct result of the firings and interference in promotions. The atmosphere was so intense that troops were being forced to submit to polygraph tests and nondisclosure agreements to be read in on sensitive topics, potentially adversely affecting readiness.
Senior officials told the outlet that decisions were now being made with the constant undertone of fear about job security.
“Everything we did on a daily basis, we were calculating, ‘Is this going to keep the boss employed, or is this going to get him fired?’” one official told CNN.
Hegseth’s team has fought back against that reporting, which it claims is based on unverified rumors, and attacked CNN’s journalism even as the defense secretary has purged all but a cadre of loyalist Trump-aligned media from the Pentagon altogether.
