Pentagon in ‘Disarray’ as Hegseth Faces Double Crisis

Ken Cedeno / REUTERS Pete Hegseth is accused of setting the military up for potential disaster as the fallout of his ego-driven overhaul of top leadership spills into public view.

The 46-year-old former Fox News host has masterminded a massive purge within the Defense Department that saw Army Secretary Dan Driscoll walk out on Monday, raising fears about a lack of experienced leadership at the top of the military.

It comes as the Pentagon burns through resources—both material and human—in its fight with Iran, which has now dragged on for over six months despite President Trump initially projecting it to last four to five weeks.

The fight is thought to be exacting a heavy toll on the nation’s weapons and munitions stockpiles, which the Center for Strategic and International Studies says will last for the war in Iran, but which pose a threat to the U.S.’s ability to fight future wars.

The Associated Press , however, reports that the war has used around 65 percent of Patriot interceptor missiles.

Driscoll said he feared that Hegseth’s leadership of the Defense Department could cause “generational damage,” a person familiar with the close JD Vance ally told the Financial Times.

He “had tried so many different ways and so many different times, but it was just clear that...

Hegseth wasn’t willing to listen to the facts or the truth, or the reason, or any of that, because of his personal animosity,” they said.

Reflecting on his exit, Brookings Institution senior fellow Tom Wright told the FT that it was a “revelatory moment, and I think it illustrates that the Pentagon is in disarray.” Hegseth’s latest act is to block the progression of seven officers tapped by a military committee to become two-star generals, amid a wider crusade that has seen 80 top military leaders either shown the door or have their promotions blocked.

Two of the seven were Black, and two were female.

Driscoll reportedly feared that Hegseth’s reimagining of the Defense Department in his image was removing vital experience and harming both morale and the military’s effort to modernize, The New York Times reported.

More than half of Hegseth’s firings have been of Black or female officers, The New York Times reports Driscoll’s exit follows the ouster of Army chief Gen.

Randy George, who served as chief of staff of the United States Army from 2023 to 2026, but who Hegseth showed the door to in April, a year and a half before the typical four-year term would have ended.

The departure of both men means the Army currently has neither a top civilian nor a uniformed boss.