Kelly: Hegseth ‘purging the upper echelon’ of military
BBC news partner CBS News has documented at least 20 generals, admirals, and civilian military leaders who have been terminated or have resigned since Pete Hegseth became defense secretary, according to BBC reporting Wednesday. The departures include the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the top uniformed officials in the Army, Navy, and Air Force, CBS reported.
The documented removals come ahead of a Wednesday announcement at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, where Hegseth is expected to announce the firing of 20% of admirals and generals across the US Armed Forces, adding to an earlier round of personnel cuts in 2025. The Department of Defense’s latest tally lists more than 800 active-duty generals and admirals across the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force.
Civil rights organizations including the NAACP and the National Women’s Law Center have accused Hegseth of blocking military promotions for Black people and women. Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, told reporters on Tuesday that Hegseth was “in the process of purging the upper echelon of the military from its best leaders.”
“We need strong leaders. These folks have decades of experience, some of the best leadership our military has ever had. He’s getting rid of them,” Kelly said.
A May report from the Congressional Research Service noted potential disadvantages of having too many senior leaders at the top, including the higher cost of employing top-ranked service members compared with lower-ranking officers, and the potential to “slow down decisionmaking processes.” Federal law sets a limit to the number of general and flag officers, and there is no requirement that unfilled positions be replaced.
Hegseth’s anticipated firings are the latest in a broader overhaul of the US military under his leadership, seeking to insert what he calls a “war fighter ethos” into the Defense Department. The overhaul has included a rebrand referring to the Defense Department as the Department of War. The last time Hegseth assembled military leaders at Quantico, in September 2025, he criticized the department as being too “woke” and said leaders were out of shape, calling “fat generals and admirals” a “bad look.”
Hegseth’s trimming of the US military’s top brass also comes as a US-Israel war with Iran stretches into its seventh month, with ammunition stockpiles reportedly depleting.