A recent flurry of reported leaks and media chatter suggests that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth may bounce the top brass at the Pentagon.
Two unnamed sources familiar with the matter said the firings could include more than half a dozen generals and flag officers, as told to CNN.
Rumors about potential Pentagon pink slips have been floating for weeks, but the outlet’s sources reportedly said that a list of officials to axe has been shared with Republican lawmakers. NBC was the first to report that the list was being reviewed by congressional Republicans.
One source alleged that the list includes General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Brown was condemned in many circles when he assumed this role because, at the time, the Daily Caller had obtained documents that showed Brown wanted to expand racial hiring in the Air Force and cap the number of white male pilots at 43 percent.
Hegseth has been calling for Brown’s termination for a long time.
“First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” Hegseth said during an appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast just after the Presidential election.
“But any general that was involved – general, admiral, whatever – that was involved in any of the DEI woke s— has got to go. Either you’re in for warfighting, and that’s it. That’s the only litmus test we care about,” Hegseth added.
Other figures reportedly on the list include Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve in the role and currently the military’s only female four-star general.
The list is said to include possible replacements for Brown, including Admiral Samuel Paparo, who currently leads Indo-Pacific Command, and General Michael “Erik” Kurilla, who presently leads Central Command.
No matter who replaces Brown or the other officials, there have been concerns about the number of “top” officials in the American military for years.
The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) published a report in 1998 on “Officer Inflation.”
The blog post promoting the report said, “This report shows that our military has almost twice as many officers per enlisted personnel than at the end of World War II.” It also contended that this inflation was expensive to the taxpayer and did not wisely distribute resources throughout the military.
Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) reportedly commented on the report at the time, saying, “The POGO report clearly indicates that ongoing reductions in military personnel strengths are not being applied evenly across the entire rank structure. They are being applied at the bottom and not at the top. As a result, the military is now top-heavy with brass.”
Since the POGO report, military spending has soared in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, and figures in the military realm have continued to raise concerns about the number of officers in America.
The potential canning of Pentagon officials resembles other changes in the executive branch. United States Attorney General Pam Bondi fired five midlevel assistant chief immigration judges and 13 candidates who were to become new judges, The Dallas Express reported.