Earlier this year, five former defense secretaries condemned the Pentagon’s military leadership purge as “reckless.” It has only gotten worse since.
Hegseth’s Pentagon purge goes from bad to worse as the Air Force’s chief of staff exits share.google/iZAv9ETK4CoK...
— Eloise Powers (@elnopower.bsky.social) 2025-08-19T16:17:55.078Z
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/pete-hegseth-pentagon-purge-air-force-david-allvin-rcna225831
Standing just to the side of Trump and the Resolute Desk was Gen. David W. Allvin, the Air Force chief of staff. Little did we know at the time that the general would be ousted just five months later. The Washington Post reported:
The chief of staff of the Air Force, Gen. David Allvin, will retire two years into a four-year term, officials said Monday, marking the latest early ouster of a senior military officer under President Donald Trump. The Air Force disclosed the move in a statement, saying that Allvin had announced that he plans to retire in early November. No successor was announced, and Allvin will continue to serve until one is confirmed by the Senate, the statement said.
...Indeed,
while Allvin’s ouster was notable in its own right, just as important is the degree to which it’s part of a larger pattern.
The broader purge also includes Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, who was both the head of U.S. Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency; Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. James Slife, former vice chief of staff of the Air Force; Adm. Linda Fagan, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard; Adm. Lisa Franchetti; Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short; Lt. Gen. Joseph B. Berger III, the Army’s top military lawyer; Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer, the Air Force’s top military lawyer; and Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the only woman on NATO’s military committee.
Earlier this year, five former defense secretaries — including retired Gen. Jim Mattis, Trump’s first defense secretary — condemned
the firings as “reckless.” Their joint letter, addressed to Congress, asked that the House and the Senate hold “immediate hearings to assess the national security implications” of the dismissals.
Hegseth and the administration appear to have ignored the concerns, the purge is ongoing, and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill have scheduled no such hearings.
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