Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has blocked at least six additional Army officers from promotion to two-star general, extending a months-long campaign to reshape military leadership that has now touched more than 80 top brass.

The blocked promotions, first reported by The Hill, mark the third known round of Hegseth's direct intervention in Army promotion rosters since March. The six officers had been slated for their second star, a senior rank that typically caps decades of service, before the defense secretary pulled their names. None of the officers have been publicly identified, and no specific reasons for the individual removals have been disclosed.

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell defended the move in a statement to The Independent, framing the secretary's authority as routine and absolute:

"Promotion recommendations sent to the Secretary of War have always been recommendations, never mandates. The idea that these lists cannot be altered is ridiculous; every single Secretary has exercised this exact prerogative."

Parnell added that "all senior military leaders serve at the pleasure of the President and Secretary." The Pentagon's use of "Secretary of War", a title formally retired in 1947 when the position became Secretary of Defense, has appeared in multiple official statements without explanation.

Three rounds of blocked promotions in six months

The six two-star blocks follow a pattern Hegseth established earlier this year. In March, he removed four Army officers, two women and two Black men, from the promotion list for one-star general. A New York Times report at the time drew a sharp denial from Parnell, who called it "full of fake news from anonymous sources who have no idea what they're talking about."

By August, Hegseth had blocked four more Army officers from one-star promotions. A Department of Defense spokesperson told NBC News that "military promotions are decided by the Secretary of War, and every single Department of War employee, from senior military leaders to political appointees, serves at the pleasure of the President and the Secretary of War."

The interventions have not been limited to the Army. AP News reported that Hegseth cut nine of 31 Navy officers from a promotion list for one-star admiral, including all three women and both Black men on the list. That roster had already been approved by Navy Secretary Phelan, other Navy leaders, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine before Hegseth stepped in. The result: no women will be promoted to one-star admiral this year.

Katherine Kuzminski of the Center for New American Security told AP that the decision was "not being made by the U.S. Navy, it's being made by the secretary of defense."

More than 80 generals and admirals removed under Hegseth's watch

A New York Times analysis published Monday found that Hegseth has fired or blocked promotions of more than 80 generals and admirals, roughly 10 percent of the military's top officer corps. The scope of the overhaul has no recent precedent.

Hegseth has made no secret of his reasoning. In a speech to military leaders at Quantico, Virginia, last September, the former Fox and Friends Weekend host laid out his vision for a Pentagon built around what he called a "warrior ethos."

"For too long, we've promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts."

He went further, declaring the end of diversity-focused initiatives across the department: "No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction or gender delusions."

The Pentagon has pushed back firmly against any suggestion that the promotion removals are based on race or gender. Fox News reported that Parnell described the department's approach as a meritocracy that is "apolitical and unbiased." Pentagon chief of staff Ricky Buria called claims of race-based removals "completely false," adding that "whoever placed this made up story is clearly trying to sow division among our ranks."

Driscoll's departure deepens questions about Army leadership

The promotion battles have coincided with upheaval at the top of Army leadership. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announced his departure this week after 18 months on the job. No official reason was given, but tensions between Driscoll and Hegseth had been widely reported.

Fox News reported that Driscoll had initially declined to remove officers from the promotion list before Hegseth intervened directly to strike their names. The removed officers were not under investigation and faced no misconduct allegations, with no formal explanation provided to military leadership for the removals.

Hegseth is already looking ahead. Reports indicate he has considered his own Pentagon spokesman as a potential replacement for Driscoll, a move that would further consolidate the defense secretary's influence over Army affairs.

The personnel overhaul extends well beyond promotion lists. Hegseth has also forced out a top Army commander in Europe, part of a broader effort to install leaders who share his priorities.

Statutory authority is clear, but the scale is not ordinary

Critics on Capitol Hill, primarily Democrats, have questioned whether Hegseth's interventions amount to politicizing the military's professional advancement system. The Pentagon's response has been consistent: the defense secretary holds final statutory authority over promotion rosters, and every predecessor has exercised that power.

That legal point is not seriously disputed. Defense secretaries have long held the right to review and alter promotion lists before they reach the Senate for confirmation. But the sheer volume, more than 80 senior officers in a matter of months, goes far beyond the occasional name scratched from a list.

Women make up about one-quarter of all Navy officers. The fact that every woman on the most recent Navy promotion list was removed, along with every Black officer, has given Democrats a talking point. But the Pentagon has framed each decision as merit-driven, and no internal review documents have surfaced to contradict that claim.

For conservative supporters of the overhaul, the math is straightforward: if the military's promotion system spent years elevating officers based on demographic checkboxes rather than battlefield readiness, then correcting course will inevitably look disruptive. The question is whether the disruption serves readiness or merely replaces one set of preferences with another.

Parnell put the Pentagon's position plainly:

"Under Secretary Hegseth, military promotions are given to those who have earned them."

If that standard holds, if the officers who do get promoted prove sharper, tougher, and more capable than the ones who didn't, the controversy will fade. Accountability in the ranks starts at the top, and right now, Hegseth is making clear that the top answers to him.