A growing group of Senate Republicans are losing confidence in Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s leadership of the Defense Department, and some GOP lawmakers would like to see him “move on,” though they say it’s President Trump’s call.
Senate Republicans who spoke to The Hill on the condition of anonymity say Hegseth wouldn’t be confirmed to head the Pentagon if he were renominated by Trump today, and they say senior staff turmoil at the Defense Department under Hegseth’s leadership is a major concern.
Republican defense hawks in the Senate aren’t happy about media reports that Hegseth pushed popular Army chief of staff Randy George to resign in early April, and they were surprised and disappointed to hear that Hegseth fired Navy Secretary John Phelan this past week.
One Republican senator who requested anonymity said there have long been questions within the Senate GOP conference over Hegseth’s lack of experience managing a large and complex bureaucracy, as well as leeriness about his unconventional and often brash leadership style.
The lawmaker, however, said confidence in Hegseth has dropped among Republicans because of his battles with senior military leaders who have strong relations with policymakers on Capitol Hill.
“The hollowing out of incredible leadership at the Pentagon has been a big concern,” said the senator. “It really came to a tipping point when Gen. George was dismissed.”
Hegseth’s feud with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is another source of irritation for Republicans on Capitol Hill, who hold Driscoll — a longtime friend and aide to Vice President Vance — in high esteem.
“I think he’s missing the mark on personnel. He has separated some of the most extraordinary generals that we’ve had in play. I don’t quite know what’s going on there,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said of Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon, expressing his concern about the sudden departure of senior military leadership.
Tillis, who cast a pivotal vote for Hegseth during his Senate confirmation last year, questioned whether Hegseth has the management skills to run an organization as large and complex as the U.S. military. He noted that Hegseth, who served as an infantry officer in the Minnesota Army National Guard, had experience managing “30 or 40 people” before taking over the Pentagon.
“Now he’s got an organization that’s much larger, much more complex than anything he’s done,” he said. “I think he’s making some less-than-ideal personnel decisions.”
Tillis said that while he voted to confirm Hegseth more than a year ago, he said “there’s no question he’s got a failing grade” on technical, managerial skills.
“In some respects, maybe not as extreme, but in some respects he’s displaying the exact lack of experience that got [former Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem in trouble,” he said.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Hegseth does not comment on the departures of senior officers but noted it would be difficult to reform the sprawling Defense Department without changing senior military leadership.
“Out of respect for uniformed officers, the Secretary does not comment on the nature of their departure. But we all serve at the pleasure of the President — and the President and the Secretary deserve officers who fully and expeditiously embrace the priorities, policies, and objectives of this Administration,” Parnell told The Hill in a statement.
“It is extremely difficult to reform a department — particularly a department the size of DoW — with the same personnel who were a part of previous priorities. Necessary changes have been made and will continue to be made,” he said.
Senior members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have criticized the ousters of George and Phelan.
“I have the greatest admiration and respect for Gen. Randy George. He’s probably one of the finest officers the United States Army has ever produced. It was a mistake for Secretary Hegseth to dismiss him,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.
“As far as the reason for his dismissal, I wouldn’t even begin to know what it was,” she said.
Republican senators with oversight responsibilities of the Defense Department said George was pushed out of his job when two key officials who may have argued with Hegseth on the decision — Driscoll and Under Secretary of the Army Michael Obadal — were away from Washington.
Driscoll, who was in North Carolina when George was asked to resign, told the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee this month that George’s ouster was “a real loss to us.”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, said Hegseth’s firing of Phelan caught him by “surprise.”
GOP senators said that Phelan was reaching out to key Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill when his job was suddenly terminated.
“He had been making appointments with all of us,” Rounds said. “We’re assuming he was simply making house calls to touch base with all of us with the [National Defense Authorization Act] coming through.”
“Don’t know a whole lot more about it and hopefully we’ll find out more,” he said.
Hegseth has fired other senior military officials, such as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, and Air Force chief of staff Gen. James Slife.
Some Senate Republicans worry that other key generals whom they say have exemplary service records may be pressured to retire this summer.
Hegseth is scheduled to meet with senior members of the Senate Armed Services Committee this week, when lawmakers will have an opportunity to voice their concerns and ask for more information about the plan for ending the military conflict in Iran. The meeting was originally scheduled for last week but postponed because senators held a late-night voting session on the budget.
The Defense secretary is also scheduled to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
Frustration with Hegseth is rising as Senate Republicans say there’s an unacceptable level of personnel turmoil at the Pentagon at a time of war.
Sources say that Republican senators would like Trump to appoint a new person to head the Pentagon, just as he has tapped Markwayne Mullin to take over the Department of Homeland Security and Todd Blanche to serve as acting U.S. attorney general.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she was “shocked” by news of George’s ouster.
“I had an opportunity to travel with George and I’ve never been so impressed by a military general. This guy knows what’s going on. I was shocked he was fired,” she said.
Murkowski, who voted against Hegseth’s nomination to head the Defense Department, said “people are wondering what’s going on over there.”
“We’re in the middle of a war. We got to know that things are being managed” well, she said. “So, not good.”
Republican senators, however, say they have been impressed by how well U.S. military forces have conducted operations against Iran and highlighted the rescue of two downed airmen in Iran as a testament to the excellence of the nation’s armed forces.
But a second GOP senator who requested anonymity said Hegseth’s long-running battles with Driscoll, the secretary of the Army, are hurting how colleagues assess Hegseth’s leadership.
“Driscoll is pretty well-regarded here and so that’s turning some heads. The fact this feud continues to go on is unhelpful to Hegseth,” the source said.
Some GOP lawmakers have also questioned Hegseth’s judgment in announcing last week that service members will no longer be required to get flu vaccine shots, something that had been standard for decades.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said it was “a mistake” to no longer require all U.S. service members to get flu shots, which he said have a much longer track record of safety and effectiveness than the more controversial COVID-19 vaccine.
“I don’t equate them with COVID shots, which were largely experimental and had not stood the test of time,” Wicker said. “When I was on active duty and a reservist, I dutifully took my flu shot every year. And as a whole, it made for a healthier” armed forces.
Updated at 8:54 a.m. EDT
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