Republican Slams Hegseth’s Power Play

A Republican on the House Armed Services Committee says Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has damaged the U.S. military — and the criticism is coming from inside his own party.

Story Snapshot

Republican Rep. Don Bacon says Hegseth has “undermined” the military and called his decision-making “poor.”
Hegseth removed at least 9 Navy officers and 4 Army colonels from promotion lists, with no public explanation given.
The Pentagon says all decisions are based on merit, not race or gender — but has not released the full list of removed officers.
Nearly 50 senior officers have been blocked or fired under Hegseth, according to Senate critics, with many being women or minorities.

A Republican Breaks With Hegseth

Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska sits on the House Armed Services Committee. He has become one of the most vocal GOP critics of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Bacon said Hegseth has “undermined” the U.S. military and called his leadership “not moral.” Bacon also said the fired generals “deserved an explanation” — something the Pentagon has not provided. His criticism carries weight because it comes from within the Republican Party, not from Democrats.^[11]

Bacon is not alone among Republicans who have raised concerns. His public statements follow a pattern of friction between Hegseth and senior military leaders. Bacon previously called Hegseth “an amateur person” and said the Secretary’s credibility was “ruined” after a series of controversies, including the so-called Signalgate incident and decisions around Ukraine policy.^[15] For conservatives who value a strong, professional military, this kind of internal party criticism is hard to dismiss.

What Hegseth Actually Did

Hegseth removed at least 9 Navy officers from a one-star promotion list, leaving no women on the slate. He also removed 4 Army colonels — 2 Black men and 2 women — from a separate list.^[4] The Army’s top leaders pushed back. Senior Army officials repeatedly rejected Hegseth’s requests to drop those officers, pointing to their strong service records. Hegseth removed them anyway.^[5] No misconduct charges were filed against any of the officers. No formal explanation was given to military leadership.

General Chris Donahue — the last American soldier to leave Kabul in 2021 — was also confirmed to be retiring early. He became the sixth three- or four-star officer to leave prematurely in 18 months under Hegseth.^[3] Senior military officials say they cannot recall a defense secretary ever selectively pulling individual officers from a vetted promotion list at this scale. Experts call it a break from decades of established practice designed to keep politics out of military careers.^[3]

The Pentagon’s Defense — and Its Limits

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell pushed back hard. He said all officer decisions are based on merit and called the military a meritocracy. He labeled New York Times reporting on the issue “fake news from anonymous sources.”^[6] The Secretary of Defense does have broad legal authority over military personnel decisions under federal law. Hegseth’s team argues he is simply cutting officers who do not meet the standard — not targeting anyone by race or gender.

READ NOW: GOP Rep. Bacon: Hegseth Has Undermined and Hurt the Military — Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's dismissal of senior officials has hurt the military. |…https://t.co/CVm07sd4Qh

— Top News by CPAC (@TopNewsbyCPAC) June 28, 2026

But the Pentagon has not released a full list of the nearly 50 officers blocked or fired under Hegseth, nor provided documented reasons for each removal.^[4] No named official with direct knowledge of Hegseth’s decision-making has come forward publicly. All sources describing the removals as racially or gender-motivated are anonymous defense officials. That gap in evidence cuts both ways — it weakens the discrimination claim, but it also means the Pentagon’s “meritocracy” defense is unverified. Senate critics, including members of the Armed Services Committee, have called for a full accounting. Until that happens, the public is left with competing claims and no paper trail.^[10]