After an unprecedented wave of resignations, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has become increasingly isolated in the Pentagon bureaucracy and is surrounded only by a small group of close friends and family, The Guardian reports, citing sources.
Some sources say he is afraid and has become “paranoid“ for fear of being fired by President Donald Trump from a position that critics say his experience as a veteran of the U.S. National Guard and infantry officer, as well as his combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, are insufficient for.
The sources cited close friends of the defense secretary as including his brother Phil Hegsett, whom he appointed as a senior adviser, as well as attorney Tim Parlatore, who previously represented both the secretary and Trump, and Ricky Buria, a former Marine and former Biden administration official with whom the secretary has become close.
Much of the work of leading the department, which has approximately 2.1 million military personnel and 770,000 civilian employees worldwide, is handled by Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, a billionaire and founder of investment firm Cerberus Capital Management, the newspaper noted. But Hegseth has focused on issues of personal interest, particularly reform of the Pentagon's chaplaincy service.
Military analysts say the latest resignations ordered by Hegseth are in line with plans outlined in "Project 2025," which contained proposals for the incoming Trump administration.
"It talked about a purge of officers and the persecution of so-called progressive officers in leadership positions," said Paul Eaton, a retired Army major general who commanded U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. "They want to create an ideologically pure armed forces that will be obedient and loyal to the president and his defense secretary, and whose oath of office will be more a tribute to personality than to the constitution," he noted. he.
“Every retired officer I know is seriously concerned about the long-term consequences for the military of the statements that this senior leadership is making – – – – – – without any resistance from senior military officials,” added former Pentagon official Kevin Carroll.
Since Trump returned to power, Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor, has fired 24 generals and other officers. Roughly 60 percent of those fired were African-American or women, the publication reported.
The wave of firings began last February with the removal of Gen. Charles Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown, an African-American and former Air Force chief of staff, was replaced by retired Gen. John Kaine. The latest casualty of the firings was General Randy George, the Army chief of staff, who was fired last month after allegedly defying Hegseth's order to exclude four officers - two black men and two women - from promotion candidates.
Among the female officers removed, according to The Guardian, is Lisa Franchetti, an admiral and the first woman to hold the post of chief of naval operations and the first to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Last week, at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, when asked by Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reid whether Trump had instructed him to fire only black and female officers, the Pentagon chief replied: "Of course not." He cited committee members and previous Pentagon leadership for focusing too much on “race and gender,” which he considers an “unhealthy approach.”
Kane has never held a leadership position, and some say she lacks the authority of previous Joint Chiefs of Staff chairmen to stand up to the president, as General Mark Milley did after the Capitol storming on Jan. 6, 2021, ordering all suspicious presidential orders to be reported to him, the publication wrote.
“He has an extremely unusual resume, I think unprecedented for a Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, and that inevitably makes Kaine feel like his job is always in jeopardy when he sees Trump and Hegseth firing people with excellent resumes like Brown, Franchetti, or Randy. George“, Carol explained.
Eaton added: “I've heard he's a good guy, but something happens to you when you go from a three-star general to a four-star general and he's in dire need of professional development. His body language during the briefings with Hegseth didn't suggest he was happy to be there.“