USA: The Department of War has urgently summoned hundreds of senior officers to a base in Virginia

The U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has ordered hundreds of generals and admirals of the U.S. Armed Forces to urgently gather—without immoderate authoritative explanation—at a Marine Corps basal successful Virginia next week, causing disorder and interest aft successive dismissals of elder officials from the Trump medication this year.

The highly antithetic bid was sent to astir each apical commanders worldwide, according to much than 12 radical acquainted with the matter. According to The Washington Post, the bid was issued earlier this week amid the menace of a authorities shutdown, and conscionable months aft Hegseth’s squad astatine the Pentagon announced plans for a wide restructuring of elder subject commands.

In a related connection today, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed that Hegseth “will code his elder subject leaders aboriginal adjacent week,” without providing further details.

About 800 generals and admirals service successful the U.S. and overseas. The order, according to the aforesaid sources, applies to each officers astatine the fertile of brigadier wide and above—or the equivalent Navy rank—who clasp bid positions, on with their elder enlisted personnel. Typically, these officers bid hundreds oregon adjacent thousands of soldiers.

Senior commanders from combat zones, arsenic good arsenic subject unit successful Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific, are expected to attend, sources said connected information of anonymity. The bid does not use to elder officers successful unit positions.

This determination by the Department of Defense—which has precocious been renamed the Department of War—has already raised important questions, arsenic U.S. media study that determination is nary precedent for specified an enactment involving specified a ample fig of progressive elder officers. The prime of governmental appointees astatine the Department not to supply immoderate accusation regarding the docket oregon duration of this gathering besides leaves important gaps.

The bid comes arsenic Hegseth has already unilaterally carried retired large changes astatine the Pentagon, including reducing elder officers by 20%, dismissing officers without explanation, and issuing the arguable but fashionable bid to rename the Department of Defense arsenic the Department of War.

The medication is besides preparing a caller nationalist defence strategy, expected to prioritize the extortion of the U.S. homeland aft years of focusing connected China arsenic the apical threat. Some who are alert of the question bid judge this volition beryllium addressed astatine the meeting.

The May directive to chopped astir 100 generals and admirals has besides raised concern. At that time, Hegseth requested a “minimum” 20% simplification successful four-star active-duty officers, on with a corresponding simplification successful the National Guard. A further simplification of astatine slightest 10% successful the full fig of generals and admirals is besides planned.

Last month, Hegseth dismissed Lieutenant General Jeffrey Cruz, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; Rear Admiral Nancy Lacore, caput of the Navy Reserve; and Rear Admiral Milton Sands, a SEAL serviceman commanding the Naval Special Warfare Command. No authoritative crushed was fixed successful immoderate of these cases.

These dismissals are portion of a broader “purge” of elder nationalist information officials. Since the commencement of his term, the Trump medication has besides removed Chief of Staff General Charles K. Brown Jr., Navy operations main Admiral Lisa Franchetti, Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan, and Air Force Vice Chief General James Slife, among others. The database disproportionately includes women.