Mattis joins ex-Pentagon chiefs in call for hearings on 'reckless' Trump military firings

Five former Defense secretaries have called on Congress to immediately hold hearings on President Trump’s “reckless” firing of senior military leaders, including the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In a letter sent Thursday, the group condemns Trump’s move, which they say seeks to politicize the historically apolitical U.S. military, and urges lawmakers to halt any confirmation of the successors to those dismissed.

“Mr. Trump’s dismissals raise troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military and to remove legal constraints on the President’s power,” writes William Perry, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, James Mattis and Lloyd Austin. “We, like many Americans — including many troops — are therefore left to conclude that these leaders are being fired for purely partisan reasons.”

Perry, Panetta, Hagel and Austin served under Democratic administrations over the past three decades, while Mattis, a retired Marine general, was Trump’s first Defense secretary from 2017 to 2019.

In one fell swoop, Trump last week fired Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as well as Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti, Air Force Vice Chief Gen. James Slife, and the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

While the president has the legal authority to remove any senior military officials, they typically give a reason for any dismissal, which Trump has yet to do with the en masse firings. Joint Chiefs chairs also typically serve across administrations in a bid to keep the position nonpartisan. Brown was less than halfway through his four-year term at the time of his dismissal.

The former Pentagon chiefs say the actions “undermine our all-volunteer force and weaken our national security." 

“The President offered no justification for his actions, even though he had nominated these officers for previous positions and the Senate had approved them,” according to the letter. “These officers’ exemplary operational and combat experience, as well as the coming dismissals of the Judge Advocates General of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, make clear that none of this was about warfighting.” 

The firings also could deter Americans from choosing to join the military if they believe they will be held to a political standard, the men write. And those currently serving may grow cautious of “speaking truth to power.”

The Trump administration has made a key point of erasing any diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from the federal government, as well as oust any civil servant it views as a potential roadblock to its agenda.  

Brown, only the second Black man to serve as Joint Chiefs chair, recorded a video reflecting on his experiences as a pilot of color in the Air Force following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in May 2020, sparking civil unrest across multiple American cities. 

And Franchetti was the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who prior to his nomination had suggested Brown had gotten the job because he was Black, told Fox News on Sunday that the four-star general was “not the right man for the moment.”

Hegseth has also said he fired the judge advocates general because they posed potential “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.” 

Such reasoning has alarmed the former Defense secretaries, who called on both the House and the Senate “to hold immediate hearings to assess the national security implications” of the dismissals.

“The House and Senate should demand that the administration justify each firing and fully explain why it violated Congress’ legislative intent that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff complete a four-year term in office,” they write. “In the meantime, Senators should refuse to confirm any new Defense Department nominations,” including Trump’s pick for the next Joint Chiefs chair, retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine.

“We’re not asking members of Congress to do us a favor; we’re asking them to do their jobs,” the five men conclude.