Hegseth calls rare meeting of large number of generals and admirals
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a large number of general officers and admirals to gather next Tuesday at the Marine base at Quantico, Virginia, according to five U.S.officials.
Two of them told ABC News they don't know what prompted this gathering of potentially hundreds of the U.S.military's most senior leaders.It is very rare to hold such a large meeting of general officers who are based stateside and overseas in one location and for it to include the defense secretary.Secretary of War Pete Hegseth attends an Oval Office meeting between U.S.
President Donald Trump and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House, September 25, 2025 in Washington.Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesThe unusual meeting will also take place months after Hegseth ordered a 20% reduction in the number of officers of the four-star rank, in addition to the 15 senior military officers he has removed from their posts, including Gen.Charles "CQ" Brown, Jr.
the then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm.Lisa Franchetti, the Navy's top admiral."The Secretary of War will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week," chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.Parnell used Hegseth's informal title, which came from President Donald Trump's executive order renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War earlier this month.
The formal renaming of the department would require Congress to act.Hegseth unveils new restrictions on Pentagon press accessThe invitation went out to commanders at the one-star level and higher, as well as their command sergeant majors, sources told ABC News.This means several hundred of these high-ranking officials are expected to converge upon the Marine base at once.Overall, there are 838 total general officers and admirals on active duty -- 446 of them are from the higher two-star, three-star and four-star ranks -- according to the Pentagon's latest statistics from June, though it is difficult to ascertain...