At least 25 top Pentagon officials have departed under Pete Hegseth

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The defense secretary has also reportedly blocked the promotions of at least 45 officers, more than half of whom are Black or female.

Sept. 2, 2026, 11:54 AM EDT

With Army Secretary Dan Driscoll’s resignation announcement this week, the number of top Pentagon officials to depart under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth climbed to more than two dozen.

At least 25 military and civilian leaders have been fired or forced out or have retired early since Hegseth’s tenure as defense secretary began in January 2025, according to an MS NOW tally, creating a dearth of experienced, nonpartisan officials at the top of the Pentagon’s ranks. Several others have been reassigned or demoted.

Hegseth has also reportedly blocked the promotion of at least 45 officers, more than half of whom are Black or female.

Here are the Pentagon leaders who have departed under Hegseth:

Air Force

• Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Gen. James Slife, vice chief of staff
• Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short, senior military assistant to the defense secretary
• Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer, top military lawyer for the Air Force and Space Force
• Gen. Timothy Haugh, head of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency
• Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
• Gen. David Allvin, Air Force chief of staff

Army

• Lt. Gen. Joseph B. Berger III, top military lawyer for the Army
• Gen. James Mingus, vice chief of staff of the Army
• Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, who served on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff
• Col. David Butler, top adviser to Driscoll
• Lt. Gen. Douglas Arthur Sims II, director of the Joint Staff
• Gen. Randy George, chief of staff of the Army
• Gen. David Hodne, head of Army Transformation and Training Command
• Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., the Army’s chief of chaplains
• Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa
• Dan Driscoll, Army secretary

Navy

• Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman chief of naval operations
• Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the only woman on NATO’s Military Committee
• Rear Adm. Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversaw the Naval Special Warfare Command
• Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, chief of the Navy Reserve
• Jon Harrison, Navy chief of staff
• Adm. Alvin Holsey, head of the U.S. Southern Command
• Vice Adm. Frederick William Kacher, director of the Joint Staff
• John Phelan, Navy secretary

Steve Benen contributed reporting.

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