(AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has applied his own “newly invented criteria” for promoting members of the military that “disproportionately removed from advancement women and people of color who had already been approved for promotion,” MS NOW reported Monday.

MS NOW spoke to “a senior official with in-depth knowledge of flag and general officer selection and assignment” who told the outlet “the results of internet searches were used by Hegseth’s office to withhold promotions from women and people of color.”

The source “also described how Hegseth intentionally scuttled the promotions of senior officers who were perceived to support diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; played a role in implementing the Pentagon’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate; were involved in the evacuation from Afghanistan; or had a connection to former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as President Donald Trump’s senior military officer but after retirement publicly criticized Trump’s leadership.”

Two officers confirmed the senior official’s recounting of Hegseth’s process.

Priya Sridhar wrote:

Those officers were told by Pentagon officials over the phone their promotions were being withheld, but they were not given a chance to respond, they said. For most, not getting promoted will end their military careers. If these officers do not promote to the rank they were selected for within 18 months, most will be forced to retire. The result has been a precipitous loss of experience and talent at the top ranks, the official said.

Part of the system involved the creation of “paper-only files filled with printouts from internet searches that were inaccessible to the officers under consideration.” Hegseth’s office would give “instructions about the new criteria over the phone instead of in writing.”

This resulted in “brushing aside highly decorated officers with decades of experience leading carrier strike groups, thousands of flight hours on dozens of different aircraft, multiple joint assignments inside the Pentagon and shore and sea duty locations around the world.”

To compound matters, “those same officers had findings from the internet searches that disqualified them based on Hegseth’s criteria.”

“Some of the findings put into the paper-only files included officers who allowed a celebration that included rainbow flags, a Pride Month event and stood up a diversity committee and task force on the USS Kearsarge to combat discrimination,” Sridhar also wrote.

The entire operation may even be illegal. Military defense attorney and former Army judge advocate general Cody Harnish told MS NOW that “the defense secretary can only remove names from promotion lists below the one-star level” and an officer who may be delayed in promotion receives written notice and a chance to respond.

The post Bombshell MS NOW Report Reveals Hegseth Scuttled Merit-Based Military Promotions, Used These Four Criteria Instead first appeared on Mediaite.

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