(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has made the “highly unusual” move of summoning hundreds of military generals and admirals to Virginia for an “urgent” meeting next week, without telling top brass what the meeting was about, The Washington Post reported.
Anonymous sources told The Post that Hegseth’s order, “applies to all senior officers with the rank of brigadier general or above, or their Navy equivalent, serving in command positions and their top enlisted advisers.” Even those stationed in conflict zones were expected to attend, The Post reported.
The directive affects “about 800 generals and admirals spread across the United States and dozens of other countries and time zones,” the report said.
Military leaders are said to be panicked by the directive, which was given on short notice and without a stated reason.
“Hegseth’s directive in May to slash about 100 generals and admirals also has generated concern among top military leaders,” the report said. They are expecting another “10 percent reduction, at least, to the total number of generals and admirals across the force.”
“None of the people who spoke with The Post could recall a defense secretary ever ordering so many of the military’s generals and admirals to assemble like this. Several said it raised security concerns,” the report said.
Another told the Post that this is “not how this is done…You don’t call [general officers or flag officers] leading their people and the global force into an auditorium outside D.C. and not tell them why/what the topic or agenda is.”
In a statement to The Post on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week,” but gave no additional details.
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