Hegseth orders rare, urgent meeting of hundreds of generals, admirals

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered hundreds of generals and admirals to gather in Virginia. Photo / Getty Images

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered hundreds of the US military’s generals and admirals to gather on short notice – and without a stated reason – at a Marine Corps base in Virginia next week, sowing confusion and alarm after the Trump administration’s firing of numerous senior leaders this year.

The highly unusual directive was sent to virtually all of the military’s top commanders worldwide, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the matter.

It was issued earlier this week, against the backdrop of a potential government shutdown, and as Hegseth’s overtly political moves have deepened a sense of distress among his opponents who fear that he is erasing the Defence Department’s status as a nonpartisan institution.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell affirmed that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week”, but he offered no additional details. Parnell, a senior adviser to the defence secretary, voiced no security concerns about The Washington Post reporting on the meeting, scheduled for Tuesday in Quantico, Virginia.

It was not immediately clear whether the White House is involved with the meeting or if President Donald Trump also intends to be there. A spokesperson referred questions to the Pentagon.

There are about 800 generals and admirals spread across the United States and dozens of other countries and time zones. Hegseth’s order, people familiar with the matter said, applies to all senior officers with the rank of brigadier general or above, or their Navy equivalent, serving in command positions and their top enlisted advisers. Typically, each of these officers oversees hundreds or thousands of rank-and-file troops.

Top commanders in conflict zones and senior military leaders stationed throughout Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region are among those expected to attend Hegseth’s meeting, said people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to publicly discuss the issue. The order does not apply to top military officers who hold staff positions.

“All general officers in command in grade O-7 through O-10 and their general officer senior enlisted advisers are directed to attend within operational constraints,” the order states, according to one person who saw a copy. O-7 through O-10 refers to the military’s classification for all generals and admirals.

None of the people who spoke with The Post could recall a defence secretary ever ordering so many of the military’s generals and admirals to assemble like this. Several said it raised security concerns.

“People are very concerned. They have no idea what it means,” one person said.

Others expressed frustration that even many commanders stationed overseas will be required to attend Hegseth’s impromptu summit, with some questioning the wisdom in doing so. “It will make the commands just diminished if something pops up,” a defence official said.

The Defence Department possesses and often uses highly secure videoconferencing technology that enables military officials, regardless of their location, to discuss sensitive matters with the White House, the Pentagon or both. Another person said ordering hundreds of military leaders to appear in the same location is “not how this is done”.

“You don’t call GOFOs leading their people and the global force into an auditorium outside DC and not tell them why/what the topic or agenda is,” this person added, using an abbreviation for general officer or flag officer.

“Are we taking every general and flag officer out of the Pacific right now?” one US official said. “All of it is weird.”

On Capitol Hill, where Hegseth’s unorthodox stewardship of the Defence Department has rankled members of both political parties, lawmakers also appeared caught off guard. Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate and House armed services committee did not immediately comment on the development.

The orders come as Hegseth has unilaterally directed massive recent changes at the Pentagon – including directing that the number of general officers be reduced by 20% through a sweeping consolidation of top military commands, firing senior leaders without cause and a high-profile order to rebrand the Defence Department as the Department of War.

The unusual order to show up at Quantico next week coincides with efforts by Hegseth to exert greater influence over who gets promoted to be a senior military officer, multiple officials told The Post. Even at the one- and two-star level, the secretary’s team is scrutinising old relationships, and what officials have said or posted on social media, as they determine whom to send forward for a higher rank or assignment.

The effort has had a chilling effect on rising officers, people familiar with the matter said, as multiple officials have expressed unease about the initiative and questioned whether it will erode the military’s ability to stay insulated from the nation’s toxic politics. Others have said such pressure would drive some rising officers to leave, resulting in enormous losses to the Pentagon in terms of the time and money spent training those leaders.

Top administration officials also have been preparing a new national defence strategy that is expected to make homeland defence the nation’s top concern, after several years of China being identified as the top national security risk to the United States. Some officials familiar with the order to travel said they thought that may come up.

Hegseth’s directive in May to slash about 100 generals and admirals also has generated concern among top military leaders. He called then for a “minimum” 20% cut to the number of four-star officers – the military’s top rank – on active duty and a corresponding number of generals in the National Guard. There also will be another 10% reduction, at least, to the total number of generals and admirals across the force.

Last month, Hegseth fired Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency; Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, the chief of the Navy Reserve; and Rear Admiral Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversaw Naval Special Warfare Command. No specific reasons were given in those cases.

The firings were the latest in a wider purge of national security agencies’ top ranks. Since entering office, the Trump administration also has fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q Brown jnr; the chief of naval operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti; the commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Linda Fagan; and the Air Force vice chief of staff, General James Slife among others. The list includes a disproportionate number of women.

General David Allvin, the chief of staff of the Air Force, announced last month that he will step down in November, after he was asked to retire.

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