He also said he was “requesting nominations” for the jobs of judge advocate general, or JAG, for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
He did not identify the lawyers by name. The Navy JAG, Vice Adm. Christopher French, retired about two months ago, and there was already an ongoing effort to seek a replacement. The Army JAG, Lt. Gen. Joseph B. Berger III, and Air Force JAG, Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer, were fired.
The removals – which came without any specified reasons in terms of their conduct – sent a new wave of apprehension through the Pentagon. And they added to the broader confusion over the changing parameters of Elon Musk’s demand that federal employees provide recent job accomplishments by the end of Monday or risk getting fired, even though government officials later said the edict is voluntary.
Throughout the Pentagon on Monday, military and civilian workers juggled their routine national security duties with a growing unease that anyone could be next on the firing block. Hegseth has defended Trump’s firing of Brown, saying it was not unusual and the president deserves to pick his own team. The defense chief argued that other presidents made changes in military personnel. Trump’s choice of retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine is unusual. Caine would have to come back onto active duty, but he does not meet the legal requirements for the top post. According to law, a chairman must have served as a combatant commander or service chief.
Those requirements can be waived by the president. Historically, Pentagon leaders have deliberately shifted top admirals and generals into a job as service chief for even a brief period of time in order to qualify them for the chairman’s post.
In recent decades, a number of three-star and four-star officers have been fired, but Pentagon leaders have routinely made clear why they were ousted. Those reasons included disagreements over the conduct of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, problems with the oversight of America’s nuclear arsenal and public statements critical of the president and other leaders.
Brown, a history-making fighter pilot and only the second Black general to serve as chairman, is the first in that post to be fired in recent history. Hegseth made it clear before he took the secretary’s job that he thought Brown should be fired, and he questioned whether Brown got the job because he was Black.
Hegseth has also repeatedly argued that military officers would be reviewed “based on meritocracy.” It’s unclear, however, how Franchetti, Slife and the lawyers were evaluated and what meritocracy they were found to lack.
As a result, Pentagon workers are left to decipher whether the officers were fired due to political reasons or because of their race or gender. Hegseth has laid out a campaign to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks.
And there have been persistent threats from the Trump administration that military officers advocating diversity and equity – or so-called “wokeism” – could be targeted.
Hegseth has said that efforts to expand diversity and equity have eroded the military’s readiness.
