House panel demands more information on military firings

Pentagon officials would have five days to tell Congress why senior uniformed military leaders had been dismissed or fired under a provision adopted by a House panel Thursday.

The move comes after the sudden firing of multiple top officers under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s tenure that have stoked bipartisan concerns that the Pentagon is forcing out experienced officers with little to no explanation.

Most recently, the firing of the widely popular Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George stoked outrage from Republicans and Democrats alike.

But numerous top officers have been abruptly dismissed since President Donald Trump’s return to office — including former Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown and top officers in the Navy and Coast Guard, as well as the heads of U.S. Southern and Cyber Commands, among other top posts.

Committee action: The new requirement, included in the House Armed Services Committee’s draft of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, was introduced by Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) and would mandate a report “that describes the performance concerns, actions, or inactions of that officer that are cause for such removal, transfer, or relief of duty.’’

The committee approved the provision by a bipartisan voice vote without objections.

Look ahead: Committee members were expected to debate additional amendments to the policy bill throughout Thursday, including other measures from Democrats that needle Hegseth’s leadership.

The provision still faces a long path before becoming law. Both the full House and Senate will have to pass the language before it heads to the president for signature, a process that is expected to take until sometime this fall at the earliest.

Pentagon silence: But its inclusion among uncontroversial amendments to the sweeping authorization bill represents a rebuke of Hegseth’s personnel moves and the lack of information provided to Congress about the rationale for them.

During an appearance before the committee in April, Hegseth declined to give reasons for George’s departure “out of respect to these officers.” He added that “we don’t talk about the nature of that, and we all serve at the pleasure of the president.”