‘He lost us’: Generals, senior officers say trust in Hegseth has evaporated

Ben Wolfgang

Source Link 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has lost the trust and respect of some top military commanders, with his public “grandstanding” widely seen as unprofessional and the personnel moves made by the former cable TV host leading to an unprecedented and dangerous exodus of talent from the Pentagon, said current senior military officers and current and former Defense Department officials.

Numerous high-ranking officers painted Mr. Hegseth’s Sept. 30 speech to hundreds of generals and admirals gathered at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia as a turning point in how his leadership style, attitude and overall competency are viewed in the upper echelons of the U.S. armed forces.

“It was a massive waste of time. … If he ever had us, he lost us,” one current Army general told The Washington Times.

The Quantico speech — described by other sources as “embarrassing” and theatrical to a degree that “is below our institution” — seemed to crystallize beliefs about Mr. Hegseth that had taken root among some senior officers, including the view that the secretary operates with a junior officer’s mentality that has led him to micromanage policies about issues such as military facial hair standards and press access to the Pentagon, sometimes at the expense of the much broader portfolio of a typical defense secretary.

“Mainly what I see from him are not serious things,” a current senior officer said. “It’s, ’Why did this service member tweet this?’ Or internal politics and drama. That’s mostly what I see.”

Mr. Hegseth clearly does not care about such criticism. At Quantico, he told any officer who disagreed with his priorities and his laserlike focus on a return to what he calls the military’s “warrior ethos” to resign.

Some analysts are quick to point out that military recruiting has surged since Mr. Hegseth took his post earlier this year. Supporters cite that as clear evidence that Mr. Hegseth’s approach is resonating with at least a subsection of young Americans and in the process is strengthening the armed forces. Separately, some defense industry sources stress that the Pentagon under Mr. Hegseth’s leadership is driving the development and fielding of small tactical drones in huge numbers, among other successes.