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According to reports, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of four U.S. Army officers to become one-star generals – and it is believed that the move is fueled by prejudice against their race and gender. Two of the three dozen officers on the list are Black, and two are women. Most of the list is composed of white male officers.
“Earlier this month, Hegseth broke the logjam by unilaterally striking the officers’ names from the list, though it is not clear he has the legal authority to do so,” stated the report first shared by The New York Times. “The list is currently being reviewed by the White House which is expected to send it to the Senate for final approval.”
According to 11 current and former senior military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, Hegseth’s decision to block the promotions ties into his agenda of departing from policies deemed “woke” enacted by previous administrations.
Another reason, this one involving President Donald Trump, arose during a reported heated exchange between Hegseth’s chief of staff Ricky Buria, and Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll. Buria opposed the promotion of Maj. Gen. Antoinette R. Gant, a veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, to lead the command of the Military District of Washington. The role includes ceremonial duties such as standing next to the president at Arlington National Cemetery.
Buria stated that Trump “would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events,” leaving Driscoll shocked and adamant that “the president is not a racist or sexist,” and received support from the White House. Gant would go on to take the role after Hegseth and his office relented last summer. Gant would go on to be promoted to two-star rank in early March.
The situation again highlights Hegseth’s drive to undo the work of former Secretary of Defense Lloyd G. Austin, the first Black person to serve in the role during the administration of Joe Biden. That plan also included hiring former brigadier general Anthony Tata, who once called former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader” among other
Islamophobic comments during his tenure, to oversee personnel.
