Hegseth is playing politics with military promotions. Congress should investigate.

Added: 2026-06-05

[00:00:00]Yet again, the Secretary of Defense is reaching down into the military promotion system to decide on his authority alone who can and cannot be a general after the normal process has already been completed. He did this with uh about nine uh naval officers who were who had been selected to become admirals and a few other um air force officers who had been selected to become generals. He wrote a piece for us playing politics with military promotions. When personal preference trumps professionalism and merit, trust breaks down. So, uh, this is bad.

[00:00:32]Partially, it's bad because it appears yet again with another Pete Haggath personnel issue that, um, a disproportionate number of the people he's blocking are black andor women.

[00:00:45]He's not only denying these people the promotions that they have earned according to the merit system, but he's also denying the military their services, the services of the people who the military has judged are best equipped to take on these leadership roles. But you point out there's another problem with this, too. So, why don't you tell us a little bit about what they say in the piece?

[00:01:01]>> Well, there's a bunch of things that are at issue with this, Ben, and what I try to do is give my personal experience sitting on promotion boards. One person interjecting themselves without any rationale. I mean individuals being pulled off is certainly under the purview of the secretary of defense but it seems really bizarre that there have been four army officers as you said seven naval officers and now over a dozen air force officers. Congress is the one that really approves and disapproves promotion list across the board. This is something that I think the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House on Armed Services Committee ought to look