Pentagon chief excludes women and Black Navy officers from promotion list
The US Defense Secretary's decision to block the promotion of a group of officers appears to be driven by his prejudice against diversity policies rather than by the officers' actual performance, writes The New York Times.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently blocked the promotions of nine Navy officers previously selected by a panel of senior admirals. This move disproportionately impacted women and minorities.
As a result of Hegseth's intervention, an updated list of 22 candidates for the rank of rear admiral junior rank was released.
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From the previously approved list, Hegseth excluded three women and two black men. The other four were white men.
According to five current and former defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, Hegseth's actions clearly contravene the rules of the promotion system, which is supposed to remain apolitical and based on merit.
The new list of candidates for the rank of rear admiral, junior grade, published in late May, did not include a single woman, even though women make up approximately 21% of the active Navy. The list apparently includes only two officers of non-European descent, even though racial minorities make up approximately 38% of the Navy's personnel.
Sources note that removing officers from the list is an extremely unusual practice. According to Pentagon regulations, the head of a department can remove a candidate only if they have moral, mental, physical, or professional issues that call into question their ability to hold a leadership position.
This episode is part of a series of dismissals and personnel decisions that sources believe are driven by Hegseth's bias against diversity policies rather than an assessment of the officers' actual performance. Taken together, these moves could change the makeup of the senior command for years to come.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell declined to explain why the officers were removed from the list.
"Promotions in the military are given to those who deserve them," he said. "The department never considers a service member's skin color or gender when making promotion decisions."
Since taking office, Hegseth has suspended or fired nearly three dozen senior officers as part of a campaign to purge the Pentagon of leaders he called "stupid," "reckless," and "agenda-obsessed." He has consistently refused to explain the reasons for his dismissals or exclusions from promotion lists.
Women and minorities, who made up a significant portion of those fired, have come under particular scrutiny. According to Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, nearly 60% of the senior officers fired by Hegseth were women or Black. Meanwhile, women and minorities currently make up less than 20% of all generals and admirals.
"You are undermining the Army's talent pool of the most experienced and effective officers and causing young service members to question whether they should continue serving," Reed told Hegseth at a recent hearing.
Those fired include General Charles Q. Brown Jr., the second African American to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead the Navy.
Earlier this year, Hegseth also excluded four colonels—two Black men and two women—from the Army's general officer rank list, despite objections from Department of the Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, who insisted the officers had impeccable service records and had committed no wrongdoing.
Candidates for the first rank of general or admiral are selected by a committee of generals or admirals, which reviews hundreds of personnel files during meetings lasting up to two weeks. Approximately 5% of candidates are promoted, making this selection process the most competitive in the US Armed Forces.
The lists are then reviewed by the heads of the relevant departments and the Secretary of Defense, who may exclude candidates only if new information appears to call into question their suitability for the position.
The unpredictability of Hegseth's decisions creates an atmosphere of anxiety and mistrust among senior command staff, military sources note.
The lack of information has irritated both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. In April, Congressman Austin Scott, a Georgia Republican, asked Acting Army Chief of Staff General Christopher Lanive whether Hegseth had removed officers from the list.
General Lanive, who took over after his predecessor, General Randy George, was fired, said the question should be directed at Hegseth himself.
"If I could get an answer, I would have done it already," Scott emphasized.
Two weeks later, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Hegseth confirmed that he had removed names from the Army list but declined to give specific reasons.
"We're not discussing this out of respect for these officers," he said. Instead, he spoke generally about the need to address the consequences of years of "gender and demographic engineering," which he said had weakened the combat effectiveness of American troops.
Hegseth, in violation of protocol, attempted to have Captain William Francis Jr., a SEAL and his assistant, included on the list of candidates for the rank of admiral, according to current and former Navy officials. Due to a lack of command experience, he did not meet the requirements and was not selected.
At a recent hearing, Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat and Air Force veteran, asked Hegseth if he had directed the inclusion of a special operations officer without the required command experience.
"I don't understand what you're talking about," came the reply.
The officers removed from the list may have ended up on Hegseth's "blacklist" because of their involvement in diversity-related activities, some of which took place years ago, according to current and former Navy officials.
One such officer, with an impeccable reputation, served in the surface forces, graduated from the Navy's advanced nuclear program, and was appointed an aide to a four-star admiral in the Pentagon.
Two decades ago, she served as a diversity officer, helping the Navy recruit women and minorities.
Another officer, also expelled by Hegseth, served as a Navy pilot and an overseas specialist, working with the militaries of various countries. The third is a physician who heads a large Navy medical unit.
Before being appointed to the Pentagon by President Donald Trump, Hegseth opposed allowing women into combat roles. He later softened his stance and stated that women could serve in combat units, as they have been permitted since 2013, provided they meet the same physical standards as men.
However, his decisions raise questions about whether he considers women fit to serve in senior command positions.
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In late May, Jessica Rattenber, a former lieutenant colonel who flew tanker aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan, noted the complete absence of women on the list of candidates for admiral rank.
She didn't know that Hegseth had excluded women from the list.
"The Army I left in 2021 is very different from the one we see today," she wrote. "I'm starting to wonder: would I want my children to serve in such an Army?"
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