Concerns are growing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is denying promotions and pushing out officers who raise questions about his directives.
Two former officers told MS NOW they were pushed out of their jobs and forced to retire early after questioning command decisions. The officers spoke on the condition of anonymity due to concerns that the Pentagon would retaliate against them and try to strip their retirement pensions.
Their removals seem to mark a departure from an American military tradition of officers delivering clear-eyed assessments so Pentagon leaders can make the most informed decisions.
Over the last year and a half, Hegseth has forced out more than two dozen senior military officers and reportedly blocked the promotion of dozens more, drawing criticism from retired military officers. Targets of the firings have included women, people of color, judge advocate generals and officers who have been tied to events that Hegseth believes were mishandled.
Most recently, Gen. Christopher Donahue, the top commander of the Army in Europe and Africa, abruptly relinquished his role. Donahue was widely seen as a rising star in the Army and a top contender for some of the service branch’s most prestigious jobs. But he was also well known for being the last soldier to leave Afghanistan during the U.S. troop withdrawal in 2021, which Hegseth has criticized as being “chaotic,” “disastrous” and a “humiliating retreat.”
The departures have become known as the “Pentagon purge,” which Hegseth outlined in a May 2025 memo to senior Pentagon leadership ordering them to slash the number of flag and general officers across the forces. He said the goal was to “streamline leadership,” but many have questioned his motives. Two fired officers have spoken publicly by name — Nancy Lacore, who decided to run for Congress as a Democrat in a highly competitive district in South Carolina, and Charles Q. Brown, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who wrote an op-ed in Foreign Affairs.
When asked for further explanation as to why senior military officers were dismissed, acting Pentagon Press Secretary Joel Valdez said: “Not a single general officer or flag officer has been fired raising concerns about any issue. That charge is completely false. If they believe what they’re saying to be true, then they should put their names on their statements on the record.”
One of the former officers who spoke to MS NOW said it is hypocritical for Hegseth to claim in public that he wants to focus on warfighters and then remove people like Donahue, who was highly respected in special operations communities and commanded the Army’s Delta Force. Hegseth “is intimidated by people who have real warfighting background and don’t just talk about the warrior ethos,” the former officer said, adding, “I think he just can’t stand people around who will call him on his bullshit.”
MS NOW spoke to three of the officers who were forced out. None of them wanted to be named, not only out of fear of losing their pensions, but also because some believe military officers should remain apolitical and not insert themselves into the public debate.
To protect their identities, MS NOW agreed not to publish the details of their careers, last jobs and the specifics of their firings, including how they learned they were being pushed out.
One former officer described hearing from other troops still on active duty who questioned whether or not it made sense to stay in the military or leave. Now on the outside, this officer has been torn about how much to speak out publicly.
“For many of us, part of it is a sense of loyalty to the organization that is bigger than these clowns. We know that in the organization, there are still good people trying to do good things and we don’t want to say things that might hurt them,” one officer said.
The firings are not about a policy reform to reduce the number of general officers, but rather an opportunity for Hegseth to consolidate power, another former officer said.
During a speech that Hegseth gave at Marines Corps Base Quantico in September, he called hundreds of senior military officers to issue a 10 point list of reforms aimed at “restoring a warrior ethos.”
That was seen by many officers as a way to exert control.
“What he was trying to do was establish primacy over the armed forces in a public way: ‘We can get the most senior people in the military to do exactly what we’re going to tell them to do,’” the former officer said.
The post Hegseth’s ‘Pentagon Purge’: 2 officers say they were forced out for questioning policies appeared first on MS NOW.
