New details emerge on Hegseth’s unusual mass gathering of top brass

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered hundreds of generals to travel from around the world to hear him make a short speech on military standards and the “warrior ethos,” multiple people familiar with the event told the Washington Post.

Hegseth’s orders, which were sent earlier this week to senior generals and admirals worldwide, require anyone in a command position with the rank of one-star general or rear admiral and above, as well as their senior enlisted leaders, to be at Marine Corps University at Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday.

Exceptions will be granted on a rare basis with approval from top military officials, the people familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive planning.

“It’s meant to be an eyeball-to-eyeball kind of conversation,” one person familiar with ongoing discussions said. “He wants to see the generals.”

The orders, first reported by the Post on Thursday, were delivered without any stated reason, sending staff, many of whom will be coming in from commands that are focused on the world’s global conflicts, scrambling to make travel arrangements. The directive comes in the wake of Hegseth’s firing of numerous senior military officers without cause, upending military norms and creating a culture of fear in the Pentagon, the people familiar with the matter said.

The Pentagon has declined to clarify the purpose or detail the agenda of the meeting and did not immediately respond to questions on the nature of Hegseth’s speech. Sean Parnell, a spokesman, affirmed in a statement that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week.”

Some Pentagon officials questioned the wisdom of launching a relatively large gathering on short notice to hear Hegseth speak for a matter of minutes, and bristled at the idea that long-serving military leaders — a segment of whom spent years in combat earlier in their careers — needed instruction on how to fight.

Hegseth appeared to address concerns about the meeting for the first time Friday morning, using his personal social media account. After a retired senior officer, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, tweeted that German generals were “called to a surprise assembly in Berlin” in 1935 and “required to swear a personal oath to the Führer,” the defense secretary responded with sarcasm.

“Cool story, General,” Hegseth wrote.

“Warrior ethos” across the services can have different meanings, but in general it refers to professional dedication to fighting and winning wars. It is a regular focus of Hegseth, a former National Guard infantry officer, who has also rhetorically championed a “return to lethality.”

Critics have argued that his policies have often not seemed aligned with lethality — core initiatives have included removing transgender service members, ordering new shaving standards military-wide and rebranding the Defense Department as “the Department of War,” complete with new seals and signage marking the entrance to his offices at the Pentagon.

By statute, and barring congressional action, the Department of Defense is still the name of the agency and must remain so in all statutory correspondence.

The confusion on Thursday included military officials noting that two four-star Army commanders, Gens. Ronald Clark and Xavier Brunson, appeared in an internal service directory as lieutenants general, three people familiar with the issue said.

Clark, who oversees U.S. soldiers across the Pacific region, and Brunson, who commands troops in South Korea, both hold positions that observers worry Hegseth will downgrade in prominence. A spokesman for Clark, Col. Isaac Taylor, said the listing for the general appeared to be erroneous because of a “glitch,” and had been resolved.

The in-person nature of the meeting has generated frustration as hundreds of senior officers and their staff prepare to fly in on either commercial or military aircraft, and book lodging and transportation to be in the audience for Hegseth’s remarks early Tuesday.

Staff were reluctant to discuss how their generals and admirals would make the trip to Virginia, given operational security concerns.

How they travel will have a significant impact on the cost, with a last minute commercial ticket from the Indo-Pacific region or Europe for the top officer and staff likely costing thousands of dollars. Military flights are far more expensive and would tie up limited airlift capabilities.

The former defense auditing official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, estimated the cost of travel alone in the millions of dollars.

“Spending millions of dollars to jerk the entire military’s leadership to a short speech seems wasteful unless it’s an emergency,” the official said.

Sabrina Singh, the former deputy press secretary for Secretary Lloyd Austin, said based on her former travel experience, she also estimated the total price tag to be in the millions.

“It’s a huge waste of taxpayer dollars — money that should be funding critical missions,” Singh said.

“We are adjusting to meet the task to be there,” one U.S. official said about getting their senior officers to Quantico. While the official said it is good to hear directly from Hegseth, “It does have an impact, pulling them all in. Why is it so important to get them all in the room?”

Congressional aides scrambled Thursday to understand why the meeting had been called, receiving little information from the Pentagon. At least one senator, Army veteran Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), planned to send Hegseth a letter raising concerns about the expense and risk to national security involved in abruptly summoning so many senior officers. Duckworth’s office began circulating the letter Friday and expected more Democratic colleagues to join the effort, which includes a request for a Pentagon briefing before Tuesday.

Republicans in Congress avoided commenting publicly on the meeting.

The Tuesday speech is expected to be the first of three short lectures Hegseth will deliver, two people familiar told the Post. The second will be on the defense industrial base, and the third will be on deterrence — planned to be delivered at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California in December.