Trump admin breaks Navy protocol to promote inexperienced personal assistant

President Donald Trump speaks next to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

The Trump administration has broken with military protocol, according to a new report from the New York Times, pushing through a promotion for an officer previously exempted due to a "lack of command experience," all amidst a purge of women and minority officers from major roles.

In a report released this week, the Times revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had blocked nine Navy officers from being promoted, after they had already been approved by a board of senior officials. As the outlet noted, this move "disproportionately targets women and minority officers," matching a longstanding trend under Hegseth's leadership of firing or demoting officers who are not white men, or who do not fall in line with Trump's MAGA agenda.

"The net result of Mr. Hegseth’s intervention is a slate of 22 nominees to be one-star admirals that bears little resemblance to the broader force these officers will help lead," the Times explained. "Three of the officers removed by Mr. Hegseth from the promotion list are women and two are Black men. An additional four are white men."

The report noted further that Hegseth's actions in blocking these promotions appeared to run afoul of established military rules surrounding promotions, citing conversations with anonymous sources with close knowledge of the system.

"Mr. Hegseth’s actions, which appear to violate the rules governing a promotion system that is supposed to be apolitical and merit-based, were described by five current and former defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters," the report continued. "No female officers were included on the new one-star list, which was released publicly in late May, despite the fact that women make up about 21 percent of the active-duty Navy. The list appears to include only two nonwhite officers, even though sailors who identify as racial minorities make up about 38 percent of the active-duty Navy."

The officers targeted by Hegseth appear to have been "targeted because they took part in some diversity-related event years or even decades earlier," fitting the administration's all-out war against "diversity, equity and inclusion" initiatives at all levels.

As Economist reporter Shashank Joshi highlighted from the report in a post to X, Hegseth also appeared to break protocols when he pushed for his own personal assistant to be added to the one-star admiral list, despite the fact that he had previously been deemed "ineligible" due to his lack of necessary experience.

"In a break with protocol, Mr. Hegseth also urged senior Navy officials to include Capt. William Francis Jr., a Navy SEAL who serves as Mr. Hegseth’s special assistant, on the one-star list, current and former Navy officials said," the Times detailed. "Captain Francis’ lack of command experience made him ineligible for promotion under the board’s rules and he was not selected, officials said."

Hegseth was pressed about the allegations about Francis during a recent hearing by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat and Air Force veteran, but claimed ignorance.

“I’m not aware of what you’re referring to," Hegseth said, a response which the Times summed up as "at best, misleading."

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