It’s been nearly four months since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the chief of naval operations and several other military officials, and only one position—the chairman of the Joint Chiefs—has been replaced with a Senate-confirmed officer. Thursday, several lawmakers asked Hegseth why it’s taking so long, and why they were fired in the first place.
“In due time and for all the right reasons,” Hegseth said when asked specifically about the CNO role during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
It was the first time in a public setting that the defense secretary has taken questions on the decisions to not only fire the Joint Chiefs chairman, the CNO, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, and the top lawyers of all three military departments, but also the dual-hatted head of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency in April.
“They serve at the pleasure of the president,” Hegseth said.
Multiple lawmakers asked why Hegseth and President Trump have offered no reason for the firings. Speculation has pointed to public support for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts championed by the Biden administration, which Hegseth has enthusiastically eliminated during his tenure.
“Yes, it’s currently very much your constitutional right to fire and hire generals, and the president has that right. But there’s also decency involved here,” said Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb. “They served their whole adult life, and I think they deserved an explanation why they were fired.”
Bacon homed in on Gen. Timothy Haugh, the former CYBERCOM commander and NSA chief, who was fired the day after conspiracy theorist social media personality Laura Loomer said she visited the White House and gave Trump a list of officials she had deemed disloyal.
“Having Gen. Haugh fired—we groomed him for over a decade to fill those shoes, and I don’t know that anybody can fill those shoes right now. It’s going to take a year or two for people to get there,” Bacon said. “I really believe that the most happy people on the firing of Gen. Haugh [were] Russia and China.”
No one has been nominated to take his place. But when asked when an announcement was coming, Hegseth told Rep. Sarah Elfreth, D-Md., “It will not be that long.”
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