WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insists President Donald Trump 's abrupt firing of the nation's senior military officer amid a wave of dismissals at the Pentagon wasn't unusual, brushing aside outcry that the new administration is openly seeking to inject politics into the military.
He also suggested more firings could come.
“Nothing about this is unprecedented," Hegseth told “Fox News Sunday” about Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. being removed Friday night as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “The president deserves to pick his key national security advisory team.”
Hegseth said “there are lots of presidents who made changes” citing former commanders in chief, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama. Obama, Hegseth said, “fired or dismissed hundreds” of military officials.
Months into his first term, Obama removed Army Gen. David McKiernan from being commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan. However, Trump, while running for his second term, vowed to eradicate “woke” ideologies from the military and to swiftly dismiss many top leaders.
Hegseth and Trump have made no secret about focusing on pushing aside military officers who have supported diversity, equity and inclusion in the ranks. The administration says the move will better fortify a lethal fighting force.
Brown was just the second Black general to serve as chairman. His 16 months in the post were consumed with the war in Ukraine and the expanded conflict in the Middle East. Trump in 2020 nominated Brown as Air Force's chief of staff.
Trump wants to replace Brown with Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan "Razin" Caine, who retired in December. It is unclear what recalling Caine to active-duty service will require. The position requires Caine to be confirmed by the Senate.
Hegseth said Friday's dismissals affected six three- and four-star generals and were “a reflection of the president wanting the right people around him to execute the national security approach we want to take.”
He called Brown "honorable" but said he is "not the right man for the moment," without citing specific deficiencies. After the 2020 murder of George Floyd, Brown in a video spoke of his experience as a Black pilot, apparently making him fodder for the Trump administration's wars against inclusion initiatives in the military.
Of Caine, Hegseth said that Trump “respects leaders who untie the hands of war fighters in a very dangerous world.”
Retired Gen. George Casey called the firings “extremely destabilizing.” Casey, who was Republican President George W. Bush’s commander of the U.S. and multinational forces in Iraq from 2004 to 2007, also noted that the Trump administration can change Pentagon policy without changing personnel, but added, that what happened is "within the president’s prerogative.”
“That’s his prerogative," Casey told ABC's “This Week.” “He is the commander in chief of the armed forces.”
Still, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee told ABC that the firings were “completely unjustified” and that “apparently, what Trump and Hegseth are trying to do is to politicize the Department of Defense.”
Hegseth was also asked on Fox News about officials potentially compiling lists of more defense officials they plan to fire. He said there was no list but suggested that more dismissals could indeed be coming.
“We have a very keen eye towards military leadership and their willingness to follow lawful order," Hegseth said. “Joe Biden gave lawful orders. A lot of them are really bad," he said, adding that things like COVID vaccine mandates “eroded” the military ideologically
“President Trump has given another set of lawful orders and they will be followed," Hegseth said. "If they're not followed then those officers will find the door.”
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