The Pentagon has summoned military officials from around the world for a gathering in Virginia. Even top generals and their staffs don’t know the reason for the meeting.
Washington Post
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered hundreds of the U.S. military’s generals and admirals to gather on short notice — and without a stated reason — at a Marine Corps base in Virginia next week, sowing confusion and alarm after the Trump administration’s firing of numerous senior leaders this year.
The highly unusual directive was sent to virtually all of the military’s top commanders worldwide, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the matter. It was issued earlier this week, against the backdrop of a potential government shutdown, and as Hegseth’s overtly political moves have deepened a sense of distress among his opponents who fear that he is erasing the Defense Department’s status as a nonpartisan institution.
In a statement Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell affirmed that Sec. of Defense Hegseth ‘will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week,’ but he offered no additional details. Parnell, a senior adviser to the defense secretary, voiced no security concerns about The Washington Post reporting on the meeting, scheduled for Tuesday in Quantico, Virginia.
It was not clear whether President Donald Trump will attend the meeting or if Hegseth had given the president advance notice of his plans. He told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon that he will go ‘if they want me.’
Despite the meeting’s size and secrecy, both Trump and Vice President JD Vance downplayed its significance, with Trump asking, ‘Why is that such a big deal?’ Vance, appearing alongside Trump, said it is ‘not particularly unusual’ that generals are speaking with Hegseth. ‘I think it’s odd that you guys have made it into such a big story,’ he said.
There are about 800 generals and admirals spread across the United States and dozens of other countries and time zones. Hegseth’s order, people familiar with the matter said, applies to all senior officers with the rank of brigadier general or above, or their Navy equivalent, serving in command positions and their top enlisted advisers.
Typically, each of these officers oversees hundreds or thousands of rank-and-file troops.
Top commanders in conflict zones and senior military leaders stationed throughout Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region are among those expected to attend Hegseth’s meeting, said people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to publicly discuss the issue. The order does not apply to top military officers who hold staff positions.
‘All general officers in command within grade O-7 through O-10 and their general officer senior enlisted advisers are directed to attend within operational constraints,’ the order states, according to one person who saw a copy.
O-7 through O-10 refers to the military’s classification for all generals and admirals.
None of the people who were consulted for this story could recall a defense secretary ever ordering so many of the military’s generals and admirals to assemble like this. Several said it raised security concerns.
One person is quoted saying ‘People are very concerned. They have no idea what it means.’
Others expressed frustration that even many commanders stationed overseas will be required to attend Hegseth’s impromptu summit, with some questioning the wisdom in doing so.
‘It will make the commands just diminished if something pops up,’ a defense official said.
The Defense Department possesses and often uses highly secure videoconferencing technology that enables military officials, regardless of their location, to discuss sensitive matters with the White House, the Pentagon or both. Another person said ordering hundreds of military leaders to appear in the same location is ‘not how this is done.’
‘You don’t call GOFOs leading their people and the global force into an auditorium outside D.C. and not tell them why/what the topic or agenda is,’ this person added, using an abbreviation for general officer or flag officer.
‘Are we taking every general and flag officer out of the Pacific right now?’ one U.S. official said. ‘All of it is weird.’