Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently summoned senior military leaders to Virginia for a Tuesday meeting without giving a reason, and the move surprised many military and congressional officials. President Donald Trump then deepened the uncertainty by announcing during a Sunday interview that he would also attend the event.
In an article for The Atlantic published Monday, Tom Nichols — a retired professor at U.S. Naval War College — argued that Hegseth’s decision to assemble top U.S. generals for a mass meeting could be “dangerous and disruptive.”
"Hegseth has had a lot of bad ideas, but this one is disruptive and even somewhat dangerous," he wrote.
Nichols said that gathering the entire senior military leadership, along with the secretary of defense and president, in a single room poses an unusual security risk, and he questioned what could possibly justify concentrating so many key figures in one place at once.
Nichols noted that these officers “have real jobs they should be doing,” and pulling them from their commands to attend a mass meeting could interfere with the ongoing work of national defense. He argued that even if the meeting were intended to address serious issues, the security trade‑off is rarely worth it: “few things are important enough to justify the security risk of putting the entire top U.S. military command … in the same room.”
He allowed that a worst‑case scenario might exist if the country were on the brink of war or had been penetrated by spies. However, he said that in a crisis, military leaders should be at their posts and not confined to a single auditorium. He warned that this meeting could amount to a “loyalty check” — a surprise gathering called to force attendance and remind senior officers who wields power — rather than a genuine strategic consultation.
Nichols drew on accounts that Hegseth may lack credibility with senior national security leaders and is reacting to constant leaks out of the Pentagon. He cited a comment from a defense official that the meeting may be a chance to “get the horses into the stable and whip them into shape” and a characterization that it was a showcase to demand obedience.
Nichols expressed doubt that a verbal "dressing‑down" from Hegseth would be effective at motivating or cowing seasoned generals.
Because Hegseth and his team have publicly offered little clarity about the purpose of the meeting — even though they appear to plan to record and broadcast it — Nichols said ambiguity has fueled speculation that Trump or Hegseth might demand a declaration of loyalty reminiscent of the oath German officers swore to the regime prior to World War II (a parallel raised by retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges). Nichols said "even the dimmest" Pentagon functionary would have warned against putting hundreds of generals and admirals on the spot in that way.