Key Democrats probe report Hegseth blocked promotions for women, Black officers

On personnel matters, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hasn’t exactly earned the benefit of the doubt. Last year, for example, the beleaguered Pentagon chief replaced so many women in military leadership roles that The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols noted“At this point, women have been cleared out of all of the military’s top jobs. … Some observers might see a pattern here. Discerning this pattern does not exactly require Columbo-level sleuthing.”

On matters of race, the former Fox News host’s record isn’t any better. After all, Hegseth prioritized placing a portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee (which includes a slave guiding the Confederate general’s horse) in the West Point library, which came on the heels of reinstalling a racist Confederate memorial that was removed from Arlington National Cemetery in 2023.

Hegseth also helped push out Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the second Black man to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and helped create a leadership team in which the chairman and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all five service chiefs and nine of the military’s 10 combatant commanders are white men.

Late last week, however, these concerns reached a striking new level. The New York Times reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals, a highly unusual move that has prompted some senior military officials to question whether the officers are being singled out because of their race or gender.

Two of the officers targeted by Mr. Hegseth are Black and two are women on a promotion list that consists of about three dozen officers, most of whom are white men, senior military officials said.

According to the Times’ report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, Hegseth spent months lobbying military officials, including Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, to remove the officers’ names, only to face institutional pushback.

Earlier this month, the defense secretary acted unilaterally and struck the officers’ names from the promotion list, despite concerns he lacked the legal authority to take such a step.

“It is exceedingly rare that a one-star list draws such intense scrutiny from a defense secretary,” the Times added. “The battle highlights the bitter rifts opened by Mr. Hegseth’s campaign to reverse policies that he says are prejudiced against white officers.”

A Pentagon spokesperson said on the record that the promotions process within the department is “apolitical and unbiased,” but Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, wasn’t impressed with that denial.

“Two years ago, this committee codified in law longstanding practice and tradition that accessions and promotions within the military services be based on ‘individual merit and demonstrated performance,’” Reed said in a statement. “If these reports are accurate, Secretary Hegseth’s decision to remove four decorated officers from a promotion list after having been selected by their peers for their merit and performance is not only outrageous, it would be illegal. Denying the promotions of individual officers based on their race or gender would betray every principle of merit-based service military officers uphold throughout their careers.

“Sadly, this would not be surprising. These are currently allegations, but they fit a pattern when it comes to this secretary. He has fired or sidelined dozens of generals and admirals without explanation, the majority of whom are women or persons of color. Today, every service chief and nearly every combatant commander is a white man.

“These officers have given decades of exemplary service to this nation. They deserve better, and so do the American people. I am looking into this matter to ensure that the law is followed.”

The leaders of the Democratic Women’s Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus issued related criticisms in a joint statement.

“We’ve long known that Pete Hegseth is an unfit and unqualified secretary of defense appointed by Trump. So it is absurd, ironic and beyond inappropriate that he of all people would deny these promotions to officers with records of exemplary service,” said Democratic Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico and Yvette Clarke of New York.

We probably haven’t heard the last of this. The Pentagon’s promotion list is now in the hands of the White House, which will seek final approval from the Senate. Watch this space.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”