Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday defended his decisions to fire or sideline nearly 30 generals and admirals over the past year with little explanation by falsely comparing his record to that of President Barack Obama.
“I would also note that under Barack Obama, 197 general officers were removed,” Mr. Hegseth said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. “So this is not something specific to this administration.”
The number Mr. Hegseth gave has no basis in fact. It originated with an unsigned 2018 editorial in Investor’s Business Daily, which cites the right-wing news site “Breitbart.com’s Facebook page” as its source.
Mr. Hegseth’s actions to fire senior military leaders are without precedent in recent decades and have come with little explanation. On Wednesday, lawmakers pressed him to justify his decisions, including his move this month to remove Gen. Randy A. George, the Army chief of staff.
“Secretary Hegseth, I respect you,” said Representative Austin Scott, Republican of Georgia. “I do want you to know I disagree with the firing of General George.”
Representative Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran and Pennsylvania Democrat, described General George as a “patriot” and someone whom Republicans and Democrats have “huge admiration for.”
“Why did he get fired?” she asked.
“Out of respect for these officers, we never talk about the nature of their removal,” Mr. Hegseth replied. “However, I will note it is very difficult to change the culture of a department that has been destroyed by the wrong perspectives with the same officers that were there.”
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In November, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, cited the 197 figure in a statement to The New York Times related to an earlier firing by Mr. Hegseth. News outlets “peddling Democrat talking points have clearly forgotten that 197 officers, including flag officers, were fired during the Obama administration,” the statement read.
When challenged on the figure’s origins, Kingsley Wilson, the press secretary for the Pentagon, asked The Times not to publish the statement, saying it had been written by a lower-level staff member and had not been cleared for release. Ms. Wilson then sent a new statement, which did not include the 197 figure and was in a news article.
The Pentagon did not reply to questions on Wednesday regarding Mr. Hegseth’s use of the false number.
On Wednesday, Representative Derek Tran, an Army veteran and California Democrat, also challenged Mr. Hegseth’s decision to block the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals. Mr. Hegseth told the lawmakers that he pulled the officers from the promotion list after Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll refused to do it.
“I did,” Mr. Hegseth said. When asked why, he said, “Because we review every general officer.”
Two of the officers targeted by Mr. Hegseth are Black men and two are women on a promotion list that consists of about three dozen officers, most of whom are white men, senior military officials said. The highly unusual move has prompted some senior military officials to question whether the officers are being singled out because of their race or gender.
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said last month that Mr. Hegseth’s intervention in the matter violated rules that promotions in the military services should be based on “individual merit and demonstrated performance.”
Mr. Hegseth will probably be asked again about the decision on Thursday when he and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testify before the Senate panel.
Greg Jaffe covers the Pentagon and the U.S. military for The Times.
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