Report: Hegseth's Office Used Secret Files to Block Navy Promotions, Striking 9 Officers From the List
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's office kept paper-only secret files containing printouts of internet searches on officers under consideration for promotion, files the officers themselves could not see, MS NOW reported on November 9. Instructions on the new criteria for promotion reviews were given only verbally by phone, never in writing.
According to a senior official familiar with flag officer selections, the Navy's selection board had chosen 31 captains for promotion to one-star admiral; about 15 received reports and nine had their promotions withheld, and all but one of the women and minorities selected were removed. On the two-star list, the only woman selected and every person of color were also taken off. The official said it was the largest number of promotions withheld in Navy history, surpassing the six removed in 2016 over the Fat Leonard bribery scandal.
Senators Brian Schatz and Cory Booker have asked the Pentagon's inspector general to investigate. The report noted that federal law requires written notice and a chance to respond in promotion reviews, and that only the president may strike names from the lists, so the practice in Hegseth's office may have violated the law. By June, at least 40 general and flag officer promotions across the services had reportedly been blocked, about half of them women or minorities.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell denied that race or gender is a factor in promotions, saying promotions go to those who have earned them. Several female Navy officers later told the Associated Press they feared the intervention meant their careers now had a ceiling.
(Source: MS NOW)
Source: MS NOW
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国国防部长赫格塞思官方肖像。美国国防部摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Official portrait of U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Photo by the U.S. Department of Defense, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
