Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed at least seven Navy officers from the one-star admiral promotion list, including women and Black men, according to current and former defense officials. The intervention appears to violate Pentagon rules requiring merit-based, apolitical selections. The final slate of 22 nominees includes no female officers despite women comprising 21 percent of active-duty Navy ranks.

The removals disproportionately target minority officers, with only two nonwhite candidates on the list versus 38 percent representation in the fleet. Pentagon regulations permit striking names only for moral, mental, physical or professional failings affecting leadership fitness. Hegseth has not provided justification for these specific removals, continuing a pattern of nearly three dozen senior officer dismissals since taking office.

Senator Jack Reed noted that nearly 60 percent of Hegseth's fired officers are female or Black, far exceeding their share of senior ranks. The defense secretary also attempted to add Capt. William Francis Jr. to the promotion list despite lacking required command experience. These actions have created anxiety among military leadership about politicized personnel decisions.

The controversy reflects Hegseth's campaign against what he calls 'gender and demographic engineering' in the military. Officials describe an atmosphere of mistrust as the defense secretary's interventions lack transparency and appear driven by anti-diversity ideology rather than performance concerns.