Hegseth strikes at least six Army officers from a promotion list approved by a board of their peers

What happened

The removals were reported by three U.S. officials familiar with the decision, and a person familiar with the matter separately described the same removals to The Hill. The list held eighteen officers approved for promotion to two-star general by a board of their peers. Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement the following day that promotion recommendations "have always been recommendations — never mandates" and that the secretary "has the final statutory authority to review and approve these rosters"; the statement does not dispute that the removals occurred. Since entering the Pentagon last year, Hegseth has personally intervened to halt promotions of dozens of senior officers across the Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps.

The removals came days after Hegseth blocked the promotions of four Army officers selected for one-star rank, some with links to former Army chief of staff Gen. Randy George, whom he ousted in early April, and to Gen. Chris Donahue, the commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa. Earlier in the year he pulled four Army officers — two women and two Black men — from a one-star promotion list, to the displeasure of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who handed his resignation to the White House on Monday 31 August after a months-long turf war with Hegseth; a source familiar with the resignation said Driscoll had raised concerns that generals leading the Army's transformation effort had been pushed out. Hegseth's office did not respond to The Hill's request for comment. The Pentagon spokesman's fuller statement called the reporting "worn out and manufactured" and said "all senior military leaders serve at the pleasure of the President and Secretary" and that "the idea that these lists cannot be altered is ridiculous; every single Secretary has exercised this exact prerogative". Hegseth told Congress in April that every officer serves at the "pleasure of the president". The day after the removals were reported, Sen. Thom Tillis, who cast a pivotal vote to confirm Hegseth, called on the president to fire him over "inept management" of the military and accused him of "creating a leadership void at the top of our military ranks"; Sen. Susan Collins had criticised the pattern in July.

Why it matters

This sub-indicator tracks whether senior military advancement runs on the professional judgement of promotion boards or on one office's preference. The secretary's sign-off on a board's list is part of the statutory design, and the Pentagon's own answer here is that board recommendations "have always been recommendations — never mandates." What the record establishes is therefore not a new power but the scale and repetition of its use: at least six names struck from an eighteen-name slate approved by a board of peers, against a pattern the same reporting describes as repeated personal intervention to halt promotions of dozens of senior officers across four service branches.