President Trump plans to attend an unusual gathering of U.S. generals and admirals at a military base in Virginia on Tuesday, an event coming at a moment when Mr. Trump has pushed for a new kind of war-fighter culture at the Pentagon.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Trump planned to give a formal address to the hundreds of military leaders from around the world at the base at Quantico, Va., or whether his remarks would be made public.
But for Mr. Trump, who has long favored images of himself surrounded by military leaders, such a setting may prove irresistible.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who summoned the generals and admirals, is expected to speak about grooming and fitness requirements, and other aspects of what he calls a shift toward a “warrior ethos” at the Pentagon.
Mr. Trump appeared unfamiliar with the meeting when he was asked about it during an Oval Office appearance on Thursday, but he quickly said it was good that Mr. Hegseth had organized it.
“Let him be friendly with the generals and admirals from all over the world,” Mr. Trump said. “You act like this is a bad thing. Isn’t it nice that people are coming from all over the world to be with us?”
Few details about the event have been disclosed, not even to the officers expected to attend. The secrecy has sparked alarm at a time when Mr. Trump is accelerating military action against drug trafficking boats that he says are coming from Venezuela, as well as deploying the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and Memphis for law-enforcement purposes and using troops to guard federal facilities.
Military specialists have voiced increasing alarm over Mr. Trump’s tendency to treat the military as an arm of politics. Speaking to troops at military bases, the president often uses the occasion to bash his political rivals, liberals and the news media.
During a speech at Fort Bragg in June, Mr. Trump led troops to boo journalists and former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
On Saturday, two Democratic senators on the Armed Services Committee, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, criticized Tuesday’s meeting as a costly and disruptive political stunt that posed potential security risks.
“This gathering would represent an unprecedented concentration of senior military leadership in one location simply to hear you speak about standards and ethos at significant cost and with potentially serious security implications,” the senators said in a letter to Mr. Hegseth.
“For an administration obsessed with rooting out waste, this abrupt, time and resource-intensive meeting of our military’s top commanders,” the senators continued, “is absurd.”
Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent for The Times, reporting on President Trump.
Eric Schmitt is a national security correspondent for The Times. He has reported on U.S. military affairs and counterterrorism for more than three decades.
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