Eliot and I frequently joke that Pete Hegseth is the “gift that keeps on giving” since he has so frequently been the butt of our japes at the chronic jackassery of the second Trump Administration. But, of course, the ridicule has always served as an entry point for more serious ruminations about the potential institutional damage that the poseur who claims he is the “Secretary of War” is doing to both the uniformed military services and the Department of Defense more broadly.
A few weeks ago, I did a lengthy conversation with friend of the show Bill Kristol wherein I lamented the potential for creating perverse incentives that would drive good officers out of the military services and promote the opportunists and careerists to the detriment of the overall quality of the American military. In recent days, we have been treated to an avalanche of additional stories about the Hegseth Defense Department that should trouble the sleep of any American who cares about the nation’s military and our country’s national security.
Hegseth began his tenure by removing a number of senior officers without explanation including the highly regarded Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C. Q. Brown. Others had their careers blocked or curtailed on unproven suspicions of “leaking” to the press. Subsequently he has established a pattern of meddling in promotions and blocking lists of both US Navy and Army promotions. He seemed to take special pleasure in denying promotions to women and people of color across all four services on the specious grounds that these were likely “DEI” promotions. Needless to say this led many of folks in those categories to reconsider their choice of a military career.
Since the spring this issue has reached critical mass with the firing of the Army Chief of Staff (after his Deputy was sacked earlier) General Randy George, one of the most impressive and innovative service chiefs. Recent reporting seems to indicate that one of the reasons for sacking this remarkable officer was his unwillingness to block an investigation into an episode where some young Army helicopter pilots flew their aircraft over Kid Rock’s house in Tennessee. Hegseth’s former military aide, installed as Deputy Chief of Staff and the Secretary’s designated successor warned Gen. George to block the investigation and when he refused it, precipitated his ouster.