Defence secretary Pete Hegseth has told Gen. Mark A. Milley, the retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that he is removing his security detail, revoking his security clearance, and ordering an inspector general inquiry into his record, the Pentagon said late on Tuesday.
Hegseth’s spokesman, John Ullyot, said in a statement that the secretary directed the investigation to determine whether “it is appropriate” to review the rank upon retirement for General Milley, who stood up to President Trump in his first term. Essentially, Hegseth is asking whether General Milley should be demoted.
“We have received the request and we are reviewing it,” Mollie Halpern, a spokeswoman for the acting defence department inspector general, said of the referral to examine General Milley’s actions as chairman.
He retired in 2023, and at a ceremony he reminded troops that they took an oath not to a “a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator”.
New York Times News Service