Inside Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon Shake-Up

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Alex Ossola (0:33)

Hey, What's News listeners. It's Sunday, September 13th. I'm Alex Ossola for the Wall Street Journal. This is What's News Sunday, the show where we tackle the big questions about the biggest stories in the news. This week, we're zooming in on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's personnel changes in the US military, and why they have one Republican senator calling for Hegseth to be fired.

Since taking office in January last year, Pete Hegseth has made a number of moves to reshape the US military.

SPEAKER_4 (1:03)

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announcing today that troops will be tested annually for testosterone levels.

SPEAKER_5 (1:09)

Well, the Pentagon is at war with so-called fat troops, and some active duty airmen have just weeks to prove that they're fit to serve.

SPEAKER_6 (1:17)

It is not just push-ups and pull-ups, grooming and appearance, also tightened. No beards or beardos, his term not mine. Another exact quote, if troops want a beard, they can join special operations, otherwise shave.

Alex Ossola (1:31)

Among the biggest changes have been personnel shifts at the highest ranks of the armed forces. In April, Hegseth fired General Randy George, the Army Chief of Staff, and his handpicked replacement, General Christopher Lenev, has lost support among Republican lawmakers who say he doesn't have enough experience. The Journal also reported that earlier this summer, Hegseth cut short the career of four-star General Chris Donahue.

These generals join a number of leaders from across the branches of the military who were fired, pushed out, or had their promotions blocked since Hegseth took office.

To someone who doesn't follow a ton of military news, this may not seem like that big deal. After all, it's common to have some turnover when a new boss comes in, and in a memo last year, Hegseth did promise to slash the number of senior generals and admirals. But the US military isn't your typical workplace. As journal National Security Reporters Michael Gordon and Lara Seligman say, no, these changes are fundamental to the military, to its values, and how it functions. They join me now to discuss. Michael, Lara, thanks so much for joining me. Michael, I want to start with a very specific moment in time. So, last month, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned. Who is Driscoll and why was this a big deal?

Michael Gordon (2:47)

Driscoll is a friend of Vice President JD. Vance. They went to law school together, and he'd been installed as Secretary of the Army, a non-military position, and he was very close to Army leaders like General Randy George, who was ousted from his post as Chief of Staff and some others.

And there was a period of time when Driscoll was even speculated about as a potential successor for Hegseth. Hegseth basically forced him out. It was a big deal because it was about more than Driscoll. For a period of months, Secretary Hegseth has really trained his sights on the top leadership of the Army.

Alex Ossola (3:30)

Lara, Driscoll was one of a number of high profile departures from the Army recently, by one count as many as 20 generals or other top military leaders have been pushed out or left since Hegseth took office. General Chris Donahue resigned in July.

What is behind this sort of wave of people leaving?

Lara Seligman (3:49)

Well, Hegseth actually came into office vowing to get rid of the woke generals, quote unquote, in the Pentagon and to thin the ranks. And he started doing that really from day one. He got rid of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ. Brown at the time, who was only the second black officer to hold that post.

He got rid of the first female senior leader in charge of the Navy, a female admiral.

He got rid of General Halsey, who was in charge of US Southern Command. So there have been probably dozens of general and flag officers that he's ousted or forced into retirement or blocked from promotion. But as Michael said, this has fallen mostly on the army in recent months. So there have been many firings over the last 18 months that Hegseth has been in office. He got rid of General Donahue. Initially, the problem was his involvement in the evacuation from Afghanistan in 2021 under Biden. He was the last man there. But then he did not fire several other people who were very closely involved in that evacuation. I think the thing that really ties them all together is most of these people were seen in some way to be not with the program and not sufficiently loyal.