WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team are drawing up a list of military officers to be fired, potentially to include the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two sources said, in what would be an unprecedented shakeup at the Pentagon.
The planning for the firings is at an early stage after Trump’s Nov. 5 election victory and could change as Trump’s administration takes shape, said the sources, who are familiar with the Trump transition and requested anonymity to speak candidly about the plans.
It was also unclear if Trump himself would endorse the plan, although in the past he has railed extensively against defense leaders who have criticized him. Trump has also spoken during the campaign of and those responsible for the troubled 2021 pullout from Afghanistan.
The second source said the incoming administration would likely focus on U.S. military officers seen as connected to Mark Milley, Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Milley was quoted in the book “War” by Bob Woodward, which was published last month, calling Trump “fascist to the core” and Trump’s allies have targeted him for perceived disloyalty to the former president.
“Every single person that was elevated and appointed by Milley will be gone,” the second source said.
“There’s a very detailed list of everybody that was affiliated with Milley. And they will all be gone.”
The Joint Chiefs of Staff include the highest ranking officers in the U.S. military and comprise the heads of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard and Space Force.
The disclosure of plans to fire senior leaders of the U.S. armed forces comes a day after Trump picked as his defense secretary Pete Hegseth”], a Fox News commentator and veteran who has signaled a willingness to clean house at the Pentagon.
“The next president of the United States needs to radically overhaul Pentagon senior leadership to make us ready to defend our nation and defeat our enemies. Lots of people need to be fired,” Hegseth said in his 2024 book “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.”
“The chiefs of the Joint Chiefs and all the vice chiefs will be fired immediately,” the source said, before noting that this was still only early planning.
The first source said that it would be difficult bureaucratically to fire and replace a large swath of senior U.S. military officials, suggesting the planning could be bluster and posturing by Trump allies.
But the second source suggested the Trump camp believed the Joint Chiefs of Staff needed to shrink due to perceived bureaucratic over-reach.
Such cuts could be endured in an organization the scale of the U.S. military, the source said.
“These people are not irreplaceable. They are very replaceable. And then the other thing too is there is no shortage of people that will step up,” the source said.
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Article URL : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-team-drawing-up-list-pentagon-officers-fire-sources-say-2024-11-13/