President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have reshaped the senior military ranks during their first few months in office.
While they have not provided detailed explanations behind why the senior leaders were relieved of their duties, many of them had publicly supported the Biden administration’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, which both Trump and Hegseth have said need to be removed.
Trump and Hegseth have railed against such efforts, with the secretary saying early in his tenure, “I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘our diversity is our strength.’” Simultaneously, they have repeatedly spoken about redeveloping the military as a meritocracy.
Adm. Lisa Fagan: Commandant of the US Coast Guard
Fagan, the first woman to lead a branch of the U.S. armed forces, was relieved of duty just 24 hours into the second Trump administration.
Former acting Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman relieved Fagan for “leadership deficiencies, operational failures, and [an] inability to advance the strategic objectives of the U.S. Coast Guard,” a senior DHS official told the Washington Examiner at the time.
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In particular, the official referenced her “failure” to deploy resources effectively to support border security, “inadequate” leadership resulting in recruitment and retention shortfalls, “mismanagement of key acquisitions,” and “excessive focus” on DEI.
Huffman has since been replaced by Kristi Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, whom the Senate confirmed. Adm. Kevin Lunday remains the acting Coast Guard Commandant.
Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Trump fired Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. on Feb. 21. Brown served from Oct. 1, 2023, until Trump announced his dismissal, making him one of the shortest-tenured chairmen.
“This is a reflection of the president wanting the right people around him to execute the national security approach we want to take,” Hegseth said days later. “And I have a lot of respect for CQ Brown. I got to know him over the course of a month. He’s an honorable man [but] not the right man for the moment. And ultimately, the President made that call.”
Trump nominated Brown to be the Air Force chief of staff in 2020 during his first term, but the senior military officer angered conservatives with a video he published describing his feelings as a black man moving through the military ranks following the killing of George Floyd, which critics associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The secretary called for Trump to fire Brown prior to the president tapping the former Fox News host to serve as secretary of defense.
“First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” Hegseth said on The Shawn Ryan Show last November. “But any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI woke s*** has got to go.”
Trump nominated retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to fill the vacancy left by Brown’s firing. He was confirmed by the Senate this week.
Adm. Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations, and Gen. James Slife, Air Force vice chief of staff
The same night Trump fired Brown, the Pentagon said Hegseth had relieved Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations, and Gen. James Slife, the Air Force vice chief of staff, of their duties. Hegseth did not provide a reason for either decision.
“I am also requesting nominations for the positions of Chief of Naval Operations and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff,” the secretary said in a statement. “The incumbents in these important roles, Admiral Lisa Franchetti and General James Slife, respectively, have had distinguished careers. We thank them for their service and dedication to our country.”
Hegseth, in his book The War on Warriors, which came out before his nomination, called Franchetti “another inexperienced first,” and he added, “If naval operations suffer, at least we can hold our heads high. Because at least we have another first! The first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — hooray.”
Prior to becoming chief of naval operations, she served as vice chief of naval operations; director for strategy, plans and policy (J5), Joint Staff; deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development, N7; commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet; commander, Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO; in addition to other roles held during her roughly 40-year career, according to her Navy bio.
Judge advocates general for the Army, Navy, and Air Force
Judge Advocates General are the military’s top lawyers who carry out the military code of justice, including defending and prosecuting U.S. service members in military court.
“We are also requesting nominations for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force,” Hegseth said, along with his announcement about Slife and Franchetti, just minutes after Trump announced Brown’s firing.
Hegseth has previously railed against the military’s JAG, calling them “jagoffs” in his book.
He was asked about the comments during his confirmation hearing, and he said, “It would be a JAG Officer who puts his or her own priorities in front of the warfighters — their promotions, their medals, in front of having the backs of those who are making the tough calls on the front line.”
In public comments and writing, Hegseth has expressed frustration with JAGs, which he claims tie the hands of warfighters.
“What do you do if your enemy does not honor the Geneva Conventions?” he writes. “We never got an answer. Only more war. More casualties. And no victory.”
After their firings, Hegseth explained, “It’s not about roadblocks to an agenda; it’s roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief. So, ultimately, I want the best possible lawyers in each service to provide the best possible recommendations, no matter what, to lawful orders that are given. And we didn’t think those particular positions were well suited, and so we’re looking for the best. We’re opening it up to everybody to be able to be the top lawyer of those services.”
Timothy Haugh: NSA Director/Cyber Command
Last week, the president fired Gen. Timothy Haugh, now-former director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command. Deputy NSA Director Wendy Noble was also reassigned.
“The Defense Department thanks General Timothy Haugh for his decades of service to our nation, culminating as U.S. Cyber Command Commander and National Security Agency Director. We wish him and his family well,” Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Sean Parnell added.
Trump fired Haugh after he met with controversial right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who advocated that Trump dismiss the general, among other officials she deemed not loyal to the president.
Loomer claimed Haugh had been “handpicked” by former Joint Chiefs Chairman retired Gen. Mark Milley, whom many Republicans had accused of treason due to a controversial phone call he held with Chinese officials at the end of the first Trump administration.
A group of 23 Senate Democrats wrote to Trump to decry Haugh’s dismissal.
Shoshana Chatfield: Navy Vice Admiral
Chatfield, U.S. representative to the 32-member NATO Military Committee and the only woman on the committee was dismissed this week.
She was a Navy helicopter pilot who commanded a joint reconstruction team in Afghanistan.
Chatfield was also placed on a list of senior military officers targeted as “woke” by the conservative American Accountability Foundation, which sent a letter to Hegseth saying that “purging the woke from the military is imperative,” according to the Associated Press.
“Secretary Hegseth has removed U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield from her position as U.S. representative to NATO’s military committee due to a loss of confidence in her ability to lead,” Parnell said. “The Defense Department is grateful for her many years of military service.”
It’s unclear if there’s a connection, but Chatfield delivered a speech at a Women’s Equality Day event in 2015 in which she complained about the male dominance in Congress, claiming that 80% of lawmakers in the House of Representatives were men.
Chatfield and Franchetti were among 20 military officers signaled out by AAF, which created a list in December of senior military officers whom it identified as “woke.”
Col. Susannah Meyers: Commander of Pituffik Space Base
The head of Pituffik Space Base was removed this week after Meyers emailed base personnel expressing disagreement with Vice President JD Vance’s comments during his recent visit to Greenland.
Given its geographical significance, the Trump administration has expressed a significant interest in strengthening its relationship with Greenland. The president has not ruled out using force to acquire the island.
“I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the US administration discussed by Vice-president Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik space base,” Meyers wrote in the email after Vance’s visit.
A statement announcing her removal from the department said, “Commanders are expected to adhere to the highest standards of conduct, especially as it relates to remaining nonpartisan in the performance of their duties.”
Takeaways
Many of the senior military leaders who have been fired since the start of this administration represented the firsts of their kind, a subject that the administration has shown it does not value.
Franchetti was the first woman to serve as the highest-ranking officer in the Navy, and Fagan was the first woman to lead the Coast Guard. Brown was the first black chief of staff of the Air Force and the second black general to be chairman of the joint staff.
Roughly 20% of the Armed Forces are women, according to the department’s 2023 demographics report.
In the department’s effort to remove DEI-related content from military websites and other content, it accidentally deleted articles and photos related to heroic firsts of their kind, such as Jackie Robinson, the Army veteran most known for breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
Other moves
The Pentagon is not immune from the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce government spending, waste, and the size of the workforce, though, unlike most agencies, the department appears not to see a reduction in spending.
Hegseth is seeking to reduce the size of the civilian workforce at the Pentagon, which is roughly 900,000, by about 50,000 people. He hopes enough people will choose the voluntary early resignation program to limit the number of forced separations.
DoD is also trying to uncover about $50 billion in former President Joe Biden-era defense spending that it does not agree with so it can be reallocated. Simultaneously, the president and secretary of defense have indicated that the next Pentagon budget could be the first in the country’s history to top a trillion dollars.
“We also essentially approved a budget, which is in the [vicinity], you’ll like to hear this, of a trillion dollars,” Trump said this week while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “$1 trillion, and nobody’s seen anything like it. We have to build our military, and we’re very cost-conscious, but the military is something that we have to build, and we have to be strong because you got a lot of bad forces out there now.”
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A trillion-dollar defense budget would be a sizable increase from the roughly $892 billion Congress allocated for national defense programs this year, including the Pentagon, nuclear weapons development, and security programs at other agencies, including the Department of Energy.
It would still be less than 5% of the U.S.’s GDP, the bar Trump has floated for European allies.
