WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has intervened to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen senior officers across the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, according to nine U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Several officials said some of the affected officers appear to have been targeted because of their race, gender or perceived ties to Biden-era policies or officials.
Promotion boards in each service are intended to advance the most qualified candidates. Hegseth’s interventions, officials said, have alarmed military leaders and some White House officials because defense secretaries traditionally do not remove or alter service promotion recommendations. “There is not a single service that has been immune to this level of involvement by Hegseth,” one official said.
Two officials expressed particular concern that Hegseth is impeding the advancement of officers to general and flag ranks over opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Officials also said candidates believed to be aligned with Biden administration policies or senior officers such as former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley have received closer scrutiny.
In a recent development, Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, whose anticipated four-year term would have extended through September 2027. George had sought a meeting with Hegseth to discuss the blocking of certain Army promotions — which sources said were reportedly focused on women and Black men — but Hegseth declined to meet, two additional officials said.
Hegseth, who last year declared an end to “woke” culture at the Defense Department and has criticized DEI efforts, has publicly accused the military of prioritizing diversity over merit. Officials said not all promotions for women or minority officers have been blocked, but several have been affected.
Defense Department components either declined to comment or referred questions to the Pentagon; a Defense Department spokesperson and the White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article.
Officials said Hegseth’s office has cited factors such as past support for COVID-19 vaccine or mask mandates, involvement in DEI programs, or perceived affiliation with the Biden administration as reasons for heightened review. An officer’s association with former Chairman Milley was also described as a potential trigger for additional scrutiny. “I think there is not consistency being applied to the standards,” one official said.
In recent weeks, Hegseth blocked three Marine officers expected to be promoted or appointed — two women and a Black man — despite Marine Corps leaders recommending them and no internal investigations that would justify removal, five officials said. A list of Navy officers selected for promotion to one-star admiral reportedly sat on Hegseth’s desk for more than a month; some officials fear names could be removed because of race or gender. Hegseth has also delayed or blocked several senior naval promotions and removed names from Air Force promotion lists, officials said. Some of those affected are women or members of racial minority groups.
Normally, each service convenes selection boards for promotion and sends lists for one- and two-star ranks through the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the defense secretary’s office, the White House and ultimately to the Senate. Three- and four-star promotions are typically processed individually through the same chain. By law, the president holds primary authority to block promotions; if a promotion is removed before it is transmitted to the White House, a reason — such as an open investigation or misconduct allegation — must be provided. Officials said those removed in these cases did not have open investigations.
This year, the Army’s list of roughly 30 officers slated for one-star promotion reached the White House in mid-March and moved to the Senate only after Hegseth struck four names, five officials said. Those removed included two women and two Black officers; the list that advanced still contained some women and minority officers. “If there are no open allegations or investigations, what was the reason they were removed from the list?” an official asked. “They have all deployed and done their jobs, and all are combat-tested.”
Defense Department data from 2024 show about 80% of active-duty service members are male; overall, 67% are white and 18% are Black. Among active-duty officers, roughly 80% are male; 74% are white and 9% are Black.
During Hegseth’s tenure, several senior officers have been removed from posts or seen promotions blocked, including former Joint Chiefs Chairman CQ Brown Jr., a Black man, and former Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti, a white woman. Officials said Hegseth viewed some of these officers as not aligned with priorities he supports.
A retired senior officer warned that unexplained secretarial intervention in promotions could erode confidence in the process. “Our officer corps trusts our promotion process,” the retired officer said, adding that opaque meddling “will certainly cast a shadow across our officer corps that everything they have said, done and written about during their careers could be politicized in a career-ending manner with the stroke of a pen.”