Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is causing headaches after demanding that top U.S. military officials descend on Virginia from around the world for a meeting.
Hegseth, who wants to go by his preferred moniker “secretary of war,” has called for hundreds of generals and admirals to attend, even though he has not specified the meeting’s purpose and scheduled it at extremely short notice, according to The Washington Post.
Leading military officials expected to attend the unprecedented gathering have also expressed security fears about pulling top U.S. military brass away from missions, including those overseas, to assemble in one place.
“People are very concerned. They have no idea what it means,” one person familiar with the matter told the Post.
“You don’t call GOFOs [General Officers/Flag Officers] leading their people and the global force into an auditorium outside D.C. and not tell them why/what the topic or agenda is,” another unnamed source added.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed to the Daily Beast that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week,” without offering further details.
The Post suggested that the meeting, which comes just ahead of a looming government shutdown, could touch on plans to shift homeland defense to the nation’s top priority, replacing a years-long suggestions that China poses the greatest national security risk to the U.S.
The hastily arranged meeting is the latest chaotic move from Hegseth since becoming defense secretary.
The defense secretary failed to address leaks from the department, even firing people who may not even be responsible for them, became engulfed in the “Signalgate” scandal, and took steps to terminate an advisory committee that offered recommendations on how to support women serving in the military.
Hegseth has also taken it upon himself to push for reducing the Pentagon’s general officer ranks by 20 percent, along with backing a bizarre effort to rename his department the “Department of War.”
There are around 800 generals and admirals in the U.S. and overseas, each overseeing hundreds—if not thousands—of rank-and-file troops, according to the Post.
Those expected to attend Hegseth’s vague meeting include all senior officers with the rank of brigadier general or above, or their Navy equivalents, including those stationed in conflict zones or on overseas missions.
“Are we taking every general and flag officer out of the Pacific right now?” one U.S. official told the newspaper. “All of it is weird.”
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