By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in one of his first acts in the job since being appointed by President Donald Trump, has revoked the personal security detail and security clearance for Mark Milley, the retired Army general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Milley, who served as the top U.S. military officer during some of Trump’s first presidential term, became a leading critic of him after retiring as a four-star general in 2023 during former President Joe Biden’s administration and has faced death threats. Milley will also face an inquiry by the Pentagon inspector general’s office into his conduct that could lead to him being bumped down in rank.
“If you actively undermine the chain of command — as Gen. Milley did under the previous Trump administration — we’re going to review those actions administratively inside the Defense Department,” Hegseth told Fox News on Wednesday, in his first remarks on the decision.
Trump, as president, is commander in chief of the U.S. military.
Among other criticisms, Milley was quoted as calling Trump “fascist to the core” in “War,” a book by journalist Bob Woodward published last year.
The moves to punish Milley, which also include removal of his two portraits in the Pentagon, came as the Pentagon mobilizes to support Trump’s immigration crackdown and to conform to his conservative revamp of policies on personnel.
These include executive orders that aim to ban transgender people from the armed forces, elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and to reinstate thousands of troops who were kicked out of the military for refusing orders to take COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic.
Hegseth’s moves may have a chilling effect on the Pentagon top brass, whose jobs call for them to provide unvarnished military advice even when it runs counter to policies they are tasked to execute.
Democratic lawmakers accused Hegseth, who narrowly won Senate confirmation on Friday, of using his power to settle scores.
“I voted against Secretary Hegseth’s nomination because I worried he would be a ‘yes-man’ on Donald Trump’s war path of retribution,” said Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono. “This petty decision confirms that concern, and suggests that they are just getting started.'”
Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Milley and other former Trump administration officials continued to face “credible, deadly threats from Iran.”
“The administration has placed Milley and his family in grave danger, and they have an obligation to immediately restore his federal protection,” Reed said.
Some former government officials are given security detail after retirement because of the threats they may face. Trump has also taken away security details of other former officials since taking office, including that of his former national security adviser John Bolton as well as former top diplomat Mike Pompeo.
In the aftermath of Trump’s supporters storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, Milley called China to reassure Beijing of U.S. stability. Trump, in a social media post, described the phone call as “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.”
Some Trump supporters, seeing Milley as disloyal to Trump, his commander in chief, had wanted him called back to active duty and tried for treason. Milley received a pre-emptive pardon from Biden on the last day of his presidency on Jan. 20 in a move the outgoing president said was aimed at protecting him and others from political persecution.
Milley’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The actions against Milley were first reported by Fox News on Tuesday.
A portrait of Mark Esper, army secretary in Trump’s first administration, was also removed from the Pentagon on Wednesday.
Esper, who was also defense secretary in Trump’s first administration, called him a threat to democracy in the run-up to the 2024 election.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Army Center of Military History said the removed portraits remained Army property and will be stored at the Army Museum Support Center at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
(Reporting by Caitlin Webber, and Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Costas Pitas, Lincoln Feast and Deepa Babington)
