Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired or blocked the promotions of more than 80 admirals and generals since taking office in January 2025, a Defense One analysis said. The campaign has often focused on what Hegseth describes as “woke” diversity efforts and has intensified a debate over whether the administration is politicizing the military’s promotion system.
In August, Hegseth blocked the promotions of four Army officers. Dan Driscoll resigned as secretary of the Army on Aug. 31, leaving the service without a Senate-confirmed civilian leader six months into the war with Iran. Driscoll’s departure was reportedly motivated at least in part by frustration with Hegseth, the analysis said.
The blocked promotions included an officer who had written a graduate-school paper about political polarization and recruiting. Another officer had his name removed from a promotion list after officials incorrectly believed he had allowed a mentorship group for female paratroopers to operate in his unit.
More than half of the officers removed from promotion consideration have been women or Black officers, the analysis said. That figure contrasts with an officer corps described as 79% male and 74% white. The author argued that the actions appear to violate rules intended to protect the officer corps from political interference and have weakened confidence in a promotion system that is supposed to be based on merit.
The personnel decisions have not stopped the military from meeting its recruiting targets. The Army exceeded its fiscal 2025 goal of 60,500 new enlistees and had already met its fiscal 2026 target. Every active-duty service has met its recruiting goal for three consecutive years, the analysis said.
Hegseth has attributed the recruiting performance to recruits’ confidence in civilian and military leadership. A Pentagon spokesperson likewise said, “Americans everywhere are prouder than ever to serve.” The analysis disputed that explanation, pointing instead to recent recruiting research on economic incentives, including pay, education, travel, job training, work experience and medical benefits.
Those incentives are significant for the women and people of color who make up a substantial share of the enlisted force. About 34% of enlisted service members identify with a racial minority group and 17% are women. The author argued that recruiting success does not show broad agreement with Hegseth’s ideological approach and may instead reflect the practical opportunities military service offers to young people seeking economic mobility.
The analysis also described changes in the composition of senior military leadership. All five service chiefs and nine of 10 combatant commanders are white men, while the share of women nominated for general and admiral ranks this year is at its lowest level in 25 years. It described the narrowing of promotion opportunities for women and Black service members as a “brass ceiling” that leaves senior leadership less representative of the force it commands.
The analysis placed the dispute within a longer history of military efforts to diversify the officer corps. During the Vietnam War, Black and Latino service members served and died in disproportionate numbers under a largely white officer corps. The military subsequently expanded race-relations education and supported ROTC programs at historically Black colleges and universities, partly to increase the number of Black officers. Scholars have attributed limited progress since then to educational inequality and the conservative culture of the officer corps.
The personnel purge is also unfolding alongside Hegseth’s attacks on military diversity and efforts to restore tributes to Confederate soldiers, the analysis said. It argued that these actions could create a military culture more vulnerable to racial, sexual and gender discrimination while reducing the likelihood that service members will see a path to the highest ranks. About half of the 18 service members killed in the Iran war between February and August were women or people of color.