Hegseth Purges Defense Advisory Board After MAGA Came For It

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sacked the members of a Pentagon advisory board after a fired staffer of his lobbed a critique at them in a Tucker Carlson interview In a announcement Thursday night a Pentagon spokesperson explained that Hegseth had removed members of the Defense Framework Board and other boards on Wednesday after a -day review The agenda board included several members who have argued for wars in the Middle East Following the criticisms on Carlson s show the Pentagon scrubbed the board s website this week The Intercept communicated The Defense Department spokesperson revealed the purge hours after The Intercept sent an inquiry about the website The framework board s roster included several members of the foreign strategy establishment such as former Barack Obama aide Susan Rice and former George W Bush Pentagon under secretary Eric Edelman who have previously argued for wars in the Middle East Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell s announcement implied that the shake-up which was like one executed by Joe Biden s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin when he came into office had long been in the works as part of the review Secretary Hegseth appreciates the members efforts on behalf of the department and the United States of America but changes are needed to help the new strategic direction and guidelines priorities of the department and to ensure departmental guidance are used efficiently Parnell declared The review had called on Pentagon leaders overseeing the boards to write a memo explaining whether their work aligned with the President s goals and my priorities of restoring the warrior ethos rebuilding our military and reestablishing deterrence The announcement was only made however after fired Hegseth aide Dan Caldwell s interview with Carlson racked up millions of views on X and was amplified by right-wing influencers such as retired Lt Gen Mike Flynn In the interview Caldwell complained that the advisory board was stacked with people incredibly hostile to President Donald Trump He suggested that his abrupt termination was tied to power struggles between hawks pushing for war with Iran and staffers skeptical of foreign entanglements such as himself Hegseth in a memo dated Wednesday and disclosed Thursday explained that Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg could retain board members as needed for national precaution reasons The Pentagon has not revealed the new membership of the Defense Strategy Board or other advisory bodies like the Defense Business Board The post Hegseth Purges Defense Advisory Board After MAGA Came For It appeared first on The Intercept