On Jan. 14, 2025, future Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth vowed to be “laser-focused on lethality, meritocracy, warfighting, accountability, and readiness.” Fifteen days later in a memorandum, he created a task force dedicated to advancing merit in the United States military. Unfortunately, instead of merit, Secretary Hegseth has delivered one thing: incompetence.
A few months ago, I wrote an article about the Trump administration’s plans for national defense. While I was certainly skeptical, I naively expressed hope the newly appointed Hegseth would at least attempt to serve the American people. Words cannot express how wrong I was. Instead of prudent governance of our nation’s armed forces, Pete Hegseth has filled military leadership with unqualified individuals and punished, not rewarded, merit.
Hegseth’s hypocrisy is exemplified by the case of Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield. Vice Adm. Chatfield was a model sailor. She received her commission into the Navy in 1988 through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps in college. She attained three degrees from Boston University, Harvard, and the University of San Diego, respectively. She served as the President of the U.S. Naval War College for four years and served as the U.S. Military Representative to NATO for over a year. Notably, she was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Bronze Star, two Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service, and three Navy Commendation Medals, amongst other accolades.
For an administration as obsessed with merit as Hegseth’s, Vice Adm. Chatfield is exactly the type of person that ought to be rewarded. Instead, on April 7, Vice Adm. Chatfield was relieved of duty — fired. In a press release from Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell, Secretary Hegseth cited a “loss of confidence in her ability to lead.”
The cause of this loss of confidence? The administration has refused to provide any official explanation; however, Hegseth has made it incredibly easy to infer. Vice Adm. Chatfield — amongst many other accomplishments during her 38 years in the Navy — advocated for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), including a presentation she gave on Women’s Equality Day. Five days before he was nominated to be Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth stated that “any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI woke s*** has got to go.”
Unfortunately for Hegseth, the entire military was implementing DEIA under President Biden’s orders. Following orders, especially orders given by the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces, are at the top of official responsibilities for high-ranking officers. They are required to implement official directives such as Executive Order 14035, which mandated the military and all other federal agencies to prioritize DEIA. While the Trump-Hegseth administration refuses to admit it, they fired Vice Adm. Chatfield for doing her job of serving the American people. If they had any valid justification, they would have provided it.
Vice Adm. Chatfield’s case highlights Secretary Hegseth’s hypocrisy: he has incessantly espoused meritocracy while simultaneously punishing a perfectly competent leader for something other than merit.
It’s not just Vice Adm. Chatfield, either. Hegseth has taken it upon himself to institute several purges of military high command. On Feb. 21, 2025, he fired Gen. Charles Brown who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Lisa Franchetti who was Chief of Naval Operations, Gen. James Slife who was Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Lt. Gen. Joseph Berger who was Judge Advocate General of the Army, and Rear Adm. Lia Reynolds who was acting Judge Advocate General of the Navy.
All these high-ranking, long-standing, competent leaders were relieved, as Senator Tim Kaine said, “without cause.” This begs the question: if long-standing, competent leaders in the military are being relieved of duty for obeying orders, who is this administration promoting? It seems like anyone, really.
For example, to replace Gen. Brown — who served in the Air Force for four years, holding senior commands such as Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Commander of the Pacific Air Forces, and Commander of the Air Forces Central Command — Hegseth chose retired Gen. Dan Caine as the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Caine was not only retired when he was selected, but he also had to be promoted because he did not meet the minimum rank to hold this position. Furthermore, Caine had to receive an official waiver of the necessary qualifications to hold the position, which include serving as a Service Chief and a Combatant Commander.
Hegseth has also brought former Marine Stu Scheller back to work at the Pentagon as a civilian advisor heading promotions review. Scheller is perhaps best known for his work in Afghanistan, where, during the 2021 American withdrawal, he advocated for mutiny in the military. He published several statements, including one video where he demanded civilians and soldiers alike to “follow me and we will bring the whole f****** system down.” For his brave advocacy, Scheller was arrested, relieved of command after being judged unfit, confined to the brig after violating a gag order, and finally court martialed for his many crimes. This is the kind of person whom the military should have a “loss of confidence” with, not dedicated leaders like Vice Adm. Chatfield.
Nonetheless, Hegseth announced that Scheller — whom he called “my friend” — would run promotions review at the Pentagon. Even disregarding what Scheller did to disgrace himself, he has nothing that qualifies him for his new position. Indeed, it is ironic that Hegseth would choose perhaps one of the least meritorious candidates to run promotions, where merit is needed most.
Another friend of Hegseth’s who has risen far beyond his earned position is Tim Parlatore, Hegseth’s personal attorney. Parlatore served active duty in the Navy from 2002 to 2005 and in the Navy Reserves from 2005 to 2013. A total of 11 years. Upon taking office, Hegseth quickly commissioned Parlatore back into the Navy Reserves as an O-5 Commander, a position that normally takes a minimum of 15 years of service to attain. Compare that to Parlatore’s 11. On top of an unearned rank, Hegseth also put Parlatore in charge of completely overhauling the Office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG), which is the military’s system of law. Not only did Parlatore never serve in the JAG Corps, he was not even a lawyer until 2009 — four years after he separated from active duty.
Still, I could not publish this article in good faith if I did not mention that I do — in some regards — support Pete Hegseth. The military should absolutely be a meritocratic institution. This agreement is also why I think Hegseth has no business being the Secretary of Defense. Hegseth’s greatest qualification was being a mid-level officer in the National Guard. His highest commands were as a platoon leader in Guantanamo Bay and Samarra, Iraq. Hegseth is, in qualifications, significantly outranked by the high-level leaders he haphazardly fires.
The only qualifications he has outside of the military come from working as a FOX News anchor and in veterans’ advocacy. While the political and communications experience might be helpful, it does not compare to the previous Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s extensive 41 years in the Army, including serving as commander of U.S. Central Command.
Secretary Hegseth has failed his promise to be “laser-focused on lethality, meritocracy, warfighting, accountability, and readiness.” His obsession with punishing the previous administration for following presidential orders has purged key leadership, leaving the upper echelon of our military unprepared, unprofessional, and grossly incompetent. Hegseth has abandoned his vow to advance meritocracy, if it was ever a serious vow in the first place.
