Toward the end of his unsettling speech to the nation’s generals and admirals in late September, when he made the case that, in essence, testosterone is the key to modern warfare, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered an unsubtle message to his audience.
“If the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,” the beleaguered Pentagon chief said.
It was a pointed reminder that Hegseth is not exactly open to engaging with military officials whose views differ from his own. On the contrary, he’s proved himself eager to purge the armed forces of those he deems unworthy — a campaign that’s ongoing. MS NOW reported:
A senior U.S. military adviser has abruptly departed the Army after reportedly being forced out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Col. Dave Butler, who served as communications adviser to Army chief of staff Gen. Randy George and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, was fired on Hegseth’s orders, according to Fox News, The Washington Post and The New York Times.
The report added that it’s unclear why Hegseth took issue with Butler, who officially retired, though according to multiple accounts, he worked closely with Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whom the defense secretary and the Trump White House now consider a political opponent.
The New York Times’ report added, “It is unusual for a defense secretary to weigh in on the firing of an Army spokesman.”
That’s true — but then everything about the broader campaign within the Defense Department is unusual.
The developments with Butler come on the heels of Hegseth parting ways with three-star Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, which came just two weeks after the public learned about Adm. Alvin Holsey resigning as head of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees all operations in Central and South America, reportedly because of concerns about the administration’s deadly military strikes against civilian targets in international waters.
Complicating matters further is the sheer volume of U.S. military leaders who have left Hegseth’s Defense Department, through either firings or resignations. Just days before Holsey stepped down at SouthCom, the Pentagon chief fired Navy chief of staff Jon Harrison. (His ouster roughly coincided with two high-profile military retirements — Gen. Bryan Fenton, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command, and Gen. Thomas Bussiere, a top Air Force commander — though it’s unclear whether their departures had anything to do with Hegseth.)
There was no ambiguity, however, in late August when the defense secretary fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Rear Adm. Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversaw the Naval Special Warfare Command.
Four days earlier, Gen. David Allvin, the chief of staff of the Air Force, was also shown the door.
The broader purge also includes Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, who was both the head of U.S. Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency; Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. James Slife, former vice chief of staff of the Air Force; Adm. Linda Fagan, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard; Adm. Lisa Franchetti; Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short; Lt. Gen. Joseph B. Berger III, the Army’s top military lawyer; Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer, the Air Force’s top military lawyer; and Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the only woman on NATO’s military committee.
Each of these instances was important in its own right, but let’s not miss the forest for the trees: There are growing concerns about a scandal-plagued former Fox News host who’s arguably destabilizing the U.S. military.
In fact, the New York Times reported in November that Hegseth has fired or sidelined dozens of officials “with little explanation,” creating “an atmosphere of anxiety and mistrust” within the department.
A year ago next week, five former defense secretaries — including retired Gen. Jim Mattis, Donald Trump’s first defense secretary — condemned the pattern of firings as “reckless.” Their joint letter, addressed to Congress, asked that the House and the Senate hold “immediate hearings to assess the national security implications” of the dismissals.
Hegseth and the administration appear to have ignored those concerns; the purge is ongoing; and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill have scheduled no such hearings.
Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, who served as a Marine officer in Iraq and now serves on the House Armed Services Committee, spoke to Politico about Hegseth’s purges, which the congressman described as politically motivated.
“That’s a recipe not just for a politicized military, but an authoritarian military,” Moulton said. “That’s the way militaries work in Russia and China and North Korea.”
The Massachusetts Democrat made those comments in May. The problem is worse now.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
