Slotkin, Democrats question Hegseth over blocked military promotions

Michigan’s U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin joined half a dozen fellow Democrats requesting that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth explain why several senior military officers were denied promotions following a report which alleged politics may have been the motivating factor.

The Wall Street Journal reported on June 1 that Hegseth blocked eight U.S. Navy officers from promotions while attempting to promote a member of what the publication described as his inner circle — a person who was passed over for past promotions several times.

Two of the officers denied promotion to one-star admiral were women, and two others were Black.

Slotkin’s concerns over the promotions appeared in a July 6 letter sent to Hegseth signed by Slotkin and U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Kristen Gillibrand of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Jeff Merkley of Oregon.

“We write concerning reports of your unprecedented decision to personally remove qualified Officers from consideration for promotion to Brigadier General, Major General and Flag Officer,” the letter said. “These actions raise concerns regarding the criteria, process, and authorities utilized to make changes to promotion recommendations after completion of the highly regulated military promotion board process.”

The senators wrote that the Navy and the broader U.S. military are best served by promoting the most qualified officers.

“While there are valid reasons to remove Officers from consideration for promotion for reasons that often involve sensitive or adverse information; public reports indicate your actions may be politically motivated, disregards the many achievements of these Officers, and shirks the idea of an apolitical military,” the letter said. “Additionally, there are reports that your decisions are affecting morale among all ranks of Officers.”

Slotkin and her colleagues asked Hegseth to:

• Provide the legal and regulatory authorities relied on to remove Officers from promotion consideration;
• Show the criteria for removing these Officers from the promotion consideration and how it was applied;
• Provide the demographic breakdown of the Officers removed from promotion consideration; and
• indicate whether any of these Officers were removed for reasons other than military performance, professional qualifications, or conduct.

“When questioned about these decisions you stated that there was a need to correct years of ‘gender and demographic engineering’ that blunted the effectiveness of U.S. troops on the battlefield,” the letter said. “Please provide all internal studies or other documents showing decline in effectiveness of U.S. troops on the battlefield under the leadership of these Officers.”

Along with her colleagues, Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and Department of Defense official, also asked Hegseth if he or members of his staff analyzed the long-term impacts to the force to include force management, readiness, morale, and overall, Officer retention, and if the department included a 10-to-15- year planning outlook.

“Do you plan on continuing to insert your authority over future promotion lists? If so, what authorities and criteria would you use to justify these actions?” the letter said.

The letter requested that Hegseth respond in writing by Aug. 30.