A former secretary of the Air Force who was stripped of his security clearance by the Trump administration last month accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of leading a “culture of fear” at the Pentagon where commanders feared speaking their minds due to the risk of losing their careers.
Frank Kendall III told ABC’s This Week that the Trump administration policies in regards to America’s military were coming at the cost of seasoned military leadership who were either quitting or being intimidated into silence by Hegseth, the former Fox News host now running the Department of Defense.
“In many cases I think he’s not getting good advice. Because people are afraid to tell him things that he doesn’t want to hear,” Kendall said of Hegseth on Sunday during an interview with Martha Raddatz.
“Very good people that I know are leaving because of the climate of fear and because of the things the military is being asked to do,” said Kendall.
His comments come following the resignation of Dan Driscoll, a key ally of Vice President JD Vance who’d clashed with Hegseth for months in his position as secretary of the Army. Driscoll’s resignation was just the latest departure in a wave of exits made by members of top brass over the past year.
Other departures have included Navy Secretary John Phelan and the former chief of staff of the Air Force, General David W. Allvin, who quit two years into a four-year posting. Others including some who’ve clashed with Hegseth have been asked to step down. The secretary has also blocked the promotions of dozens of generals and admirals, disproportionately women and minorities
Those blocked promotions have been a source of contention between Hegseth and Congress. Members of both parties have accused him of damaging readiness and command structures, while the secretary maintains that the moves are part of efforts to ensure that the military has the “right leadership”, without explaining what that means. As secretary of Defense, Hegseth has sought to redub the agency the “War Department” and spread what he calls a “warrior” culture at the Pentagon.
The evolution of the Pentagon under that banner has amounted to a fixation on “lethality”, including new image and fitness standards for troops and a hypermasculine tone adopted by the secretary in his public remarks and statements. Under the same effort, Hegseth has dismantled diversity programs and taken aim at any policy seen as “woke” or supportive of so-called liberal values like inclusion. He has also directed the Pentagon to host religious sermons, including one hosted in February by a right-wing Christian nationalist pastor.
“I’ve never seen an attempt to politicize our military like the one being conducted by Pete Hegseth,” Kendall said on Sunday.
Hegseth has fired back at his critics even as resignations and firings continue to pile up under his watch and Republicans on the Hill increasingly take aim at his leadership abilities. His spokesman Sean Parnell attacked reporters for writing about a “worn out and manufactured” narrative after Driscoll’s announcement of his resignation last Monday. The secretary has not commented directly on Driscoll’s departure.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis issued a scathing criticism of Hegseth that repeatedly referenced allegations of the secretary’s drinking habits after Driscoll stepped down last week. The Army secretary reportedly felt that Hegseth was creating a leadership void through the combination of firings and delayed advancements occurring throughout the armed services.
“I served on Senate Armed Services for 8 years and as chair or ranking member of the Personnel and Readiness subcommittee. I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country. He is intimidated by competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars instead of soberly attending to the vital work of our national defense and the health and well-being of our fighting force,” wrote Tillis on X.
“I urge the President to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it,” the senator added.
Driscoll, in his own statement, thanked both Hegseth and Donald Trump. But the Financial Times reported that Driscoll said he believed his boss was doing “generational damage” to the U.S. military.
According to Fox News’s Pentagon correspondent Jen Griffin, Driscoll “brought up concerns with the administration surrounding Army transformation and readiness and Hegseth's blocking those efforts specifically by firing the Generals who were responsible” before his resignation.
“But it was just clear that…Hegseth wasn’t willing to listen to the facts or the truth, or the reason, or any of that, because of his personal animosity,” the Times reported Driscoll as concluding.
The Independent has asked the Department of Defense for comment.
