Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s highly unusual decision to remove officers from a one-star promotion list has spurred allegations of racial and gender bias.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals, a highly unusual move that has prompted some senior military officials to question whether the officers are being singled out because of their race or gender.
Two of the officers targeted by Mr. Hegseth are Black and two are women on a promotion list that consists of about three dozen officers, most of whom are white men, senior military officials said.
Mr. Hegseth had been pressing senior Army leaders, including Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, for months to remove the officers’ names, military officials said. But Mr. Driscoll, citing the officers’ decades-long records of exemplary service, had repeatedly refused.
Earlier this month, Mr. Hegseth broke the logjam by unilaterally striking the officers’ names from the list, though it is not clear he has the legal authority to do so. The list is currently being reviewed by the White House, which is expected to send it to the Senate for final approval. A few female and Black officers remain on the list, military officials said.
It is exceedingly rare that a one-star list draws such intense scrutiny from a defense secretary. The battle highlights the bitter rifts opened by Mr. Hegseth’s campaign to reverse policies that he says are prejudiced against white officers.
Mr. Hegseth has said repeatedly that he is determined to change a culture corrupted by “foolish,” “reckless” and “woke” leaders from previous administrations. But his heavy scrutiny, especially of female and minority officers, is eroding confidence in a promotion system that is supposed to be apolitical and merit based, his critics have said.
This article is based on interviews with 11 current and former military and administration officials who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.
The frustrations with Mr. Hegseth’s approach came to a boil last summer during a heated exchange between Ricky Buria, Mr. Hegseth’s chief of staff, and Mr. Driscoll about a separate promotion.
Mr. Buria chastised the Army secretary for selecting Maj. Gen. Antoinette R. Gant, a combat engineer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, to take command of the Military District of Washington, said three current and former defense and administration officials familiar with the exchange. The command provides security and performs ceremonial duties in the nation’s capital, and its commander often appears alongside the president at Arlington National Cemetery.
Mr. Buria told Mr. Driscoll that President Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events, the officials said.
Mr. Driscoll was shocked. “The president is not a racist or sexist,” he told Mr. Buria, according to the officials. Mr. Driscoll then raised the issue with a senior White House official who agreed with his assessment of Mr. Trump.
Mr. Hegseth’s office retreated. General Gant began serving in the position last summer and was promoted to two-star rank earlier this month.
Mr. Buria called the account of his interaction with Mr. Driscoll “completely false.”
“Whoever placed this made up story is clearly trying to sow division among our ranks in the department and the administration,” he wrote in a text message. “It’s not going to work, and it will never work when this department is led by clear-eyed, mission-driven leaders unfazed by fake Washington gossip.”
The Pentagon did not address Mr. Hegseth’s decision to strike the four officers from the promotion list or respond to questions about Mr. Buria’s interaction with Mr. Driscoll.
“Under Secretary Hegseth, military promotions are given to those who have earned them,” said Sean Parnell, the department’s chief spokesman, in a statement. He defended the process as “apolitical and unbiased.”
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, declined to discuss the list or Mr. Buria’s reported remarks. But she praised Mr. Hegseth, saying he was “doing a tremendous job restoring meritocracy throughout the ranks at the Pentagon, as President Trump directed him to do.” The Army declined to comment.
Mr. Hegseth came to the Pentagon last year focused on undoing the work of former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, who pushed to diversify the military’s top ranks, which had long been the domain of white men.
Mr. Austin, a former four-star Army general, was the first African-American to serve as defense secretary. He and Mr. Biden selected Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. of the Air Force as the second African American to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and they picked Adm. Lisa Franchetti to be the first woman to lead the Navy.
