A new letter written to the heads of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide more thorough explanations for promotions and demotions.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot who lost both her legs in the Iraq War, sent the letter Thursday morning to SASC Chair Roger Wicker, a Republican, and Ranking Member Jack Reed; as well as HASC Chair Mike Rogers, a Republican, and Ranking Member Adam Smith.
It urges the committee leaders to retain Sections 501 and 502 of the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in the final bill, to “strengthen those sections by adding language that would require timely written notification within seven days, including a clear justification and basis for the decision, to the affected individual officer when said officer is subject of a promotion withhold, delay or removal.”
The letter notes how, since January 2025, Hegseth has removed at least 40 officers from one- and two-star promotion lists after a promotion board reviewed these officers’ records and independently determined that they demonstrated exemplary service that warranted promotion to the general or flag officer ranks.
“Hegseth has disproportionately withheld the promotion of women and people of color, sidelining talented service members and attacking the long-standing merit-based promotion board system of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD),” the letter reads. “Affected officers have been left without clear justification for these life-altering decisions.
“The services have so far haphazardly notified officers via different mediums, sometimes only verbally, failing to provide affected officers with fulsome justifications for why their promotions are being affected. In many cases, exemplary officers have found out about their promotion decisions through the press. This is a disgraceful mistreatment of our heroes in uniform that brings shame to our nation.”
What Are Sections 501 and 502?
Section 501, while often modified to a degree each fiscal year, pertains to how military officers are managed, promoted or distributed. Currently, the Pentagon does not have to tell Congress if an officer’s promotion is put on hold.
Section 502, in relation to the current NDAA draft still making its way through Congress, relates to the temporary withholding of officer nominations and promotion recommendations.
The implications on service members are “chilling,” Duckworth said, due to how DOD has operated under Hegseth’s tenure.
“For all his bluster about meritocracy, Pete Hegseth has taken a hatchet to the historically merit-based promotion system inside our Armed Forces,” Duckworth told Military.com. “He is seriously weakening our military by stunting the careers of our most talented servicemembers—and he can’t even bother to notify them in writing when he does so.
“For all their sacrifices, our heroes at the very least deserve some clarity and a timely written notification for these life-altering decisions. I urge committee leadership to do the right thing and include this requirement in this year’s NDAA.”
Hegseth has either fired myriad senior officers, or blocked the promotions of more than 80 generals and admirals. He’s also cut the number of senior positions by policy, removed sitting commanders, and personally intervened in the promotion lists that determine who will lead the military years from now.
Among those who have been fired, pushed out, or pressured to resign have included Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. CQ Brown Jr., Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George.
“Dozens of colonels, captains, one-star general and flag officers and their families—who honorably served our country for over 20 years—have been left in limbo,” Duckworth wrote. “Without written notification about these promotion decisions, they are left with limited recourse to submit written appeals for reconsideration and without anything in writing to share with potential future employers as they are effectively forced out of serving their country in uniform.”
She also called it “disrespectful and dishonorable” to treat Americans who served the country in such a manner, adding that it “is clearly wrong.”
Proposed Remedies
The letter calls for the FY27 NDAA to be amended to directly address the current format of notifications, or lack thereof.
Duckworth recommends four main actions to remedy what she views as a major issue:
- A detailed justification and basis for the decision.
- The officer’s sequence number out of the officers selected in the officer’s given category.
- A redacted copy of the Promotion Selection Board Results listing the officer’s name.
- Confirmation that the relevant Promotion Selection Board followed all relevant statutes, U.S. Department of Defense policies, and the service’s policies.
The Illinois senator also requests inclusion of a requirement that DOD establish a process where the Board for Correction of Military Records, under Chapter 79 of Title 10, expeditiously consider requests to adjust any portion of a service member’s record where the individual “shows harm or injustice as a result of having been selected for promotion but withheld for reasons other than substantiated or alleged misconduct.”
The statutory requirements, if included, are also called to apply retroactively to Jan. 20, 2025, to ensure adequate due process to all officers.
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