U.S. President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 25, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, a former U.S. Army Europe commander, is warning that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — by forcing seasoned military figures out of leadership roles — are promoting instability in the U.S. Armed Forces. But Hertling isn't the only veteran who is sounding the alarm. Retired U.S. Army Adm. William H. McRaven, writing in The Atlantic, emphasizes that the United States needs detailed "answers" about all the firings and resignations taking place at the Pentagon during Trump's second presidency.
"Every president and secretary of defense has the right and, moreover, the responsibility to remove officers who are failing to meet the high standards expected of senior leaders," McRaven argues in his Atlantic article. "But when crucial decisions regarding the professionalism, effectiveness, or morale of the military are made, the people and their duly elected representatives have a right to know why these decisions were made. In recent months, President Trump, upon advice from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, has relieved or forced the retirement of some of the finest officers that have ever served this nation. I have personally worked with most of them in combat."
McRaven continues, "I can tell you from experience that Generals C. Q. Brown, Randy George, Jim Mingus, J. P. McGee, Dave Hodne, Jim Slife, and Joe Berger and Admirals Lisa Franchetti and Jamie Sands were war fighters through and through. And this week, in an egregious decision, the president forced Gen. Chris Donahue to step down from his position in command of U.S. Army Europe."
Hertling, on the conservative website The Bulwark, found the forced resignation of Donahue especially troubling — as Donahue, Hertling argued, brings a wealth of military expertise to the table.
McRaven, similarly, writes, "Donahue is without question one of the most brilliant officers I know. He is strategically focused, tactically aggressive, personally courageous, exceptionally thoughtful in his planning and execution, and compassionate with his troops…. What is particularly concerning about these firings is the effect the dismissals will have on the officer ranks."
The Trump/Hegseth firings at the Pentagon, according to McRaven, "raise a real risk that senior officers will be overly cautious about providing their best advice and, therefore, that the chance for military miscalculation will grow dramatically."
"If Secretary Hegseth is trying to 'revive the warrior ethos and restore trust in our military,' as he has said, then the unplanned departure of these senior leaders will do just the opposite and may leave the president and the secretary without the experienced voices they need to make the best military decisions," the retired U.S. Navy admiral says. "Members of Congress should demand answers. The American people should demand answers. The future of our national security depends on it."