‘Climate Of Fear’: Ex-Air Force Secretary Says Pete Hegseth Has Made Pentagon ‘Dysfunctional’

Former US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has accused Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth of creating a “climate of fear” at the Pentagon, saying the removal of senior military officers and changes to promotion lists are affecting the quality of advice reaching the country’s political leadership.

Speaking separately to CNN and PBS, Kendall said the changes under Hegseth were “totally unprecedented” and had left military officials increasingly concerned about speaking candidly.

“The climate of fear that’s been created is very palpable,” Kendall told CNN. “It’s affecting everybody in [the Pentagon]. It’s affecting the quality of advice that’s being given. People are afraid to say something that’s not going to be approved.”

Kendall, who served as Air

Force secretary during the Biden administration, was speaking amid continuing upheaval at the Pentagon, including the resignation of Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll and vacancies in senior military positions.

He said individual departures were not unusual and that the Pentagon was capable of managing transitions. The larger concern, he said, was the loss of permanent strategic leadership.

“The trains keep running,” Kendall told PBS. “The things that normally get done day to day get done. But the strategic leadership that will make any major changes in policy or in anything else about the Army, its budget, its structure, and so on, will have to wait until these leaders are replaced.”

‘Totally Unprecedented’

Kendall was far more critical when discussing the removal of senior military officers under Hegseth.

“A very large number, I think over two dozen, senior officers in particular have been removed without cause,” he told PBS. “That is unheard of.”

He also pointed to reports of officers being removed from promotion lists, saying this had never happened during his tenure as Air Force secretary.

Kendall said Hegseth was also seeking to impose what he described as “culture war initiatives” on the Pentagon.

“The witch hunt, if you will, for people who are supposedly woke, I think, has got a lot of people scared,” he told CNN.

Candid Advice To Trump

Kendall said the effect of the atmosphere inside the Pentagon could extend beyond morale, potentially affecting the advice senior military officials provide to President Donald Trump and the defence secretary.

At senior levels, he said, military officers have a responsibility not only to explain what the armed forces can do but also what they believe should be done.

“They owe them candid advice that is their best overall estimate of the situation and what should be done,” Kendall told PBS.

“The president does need, and so does the secretary of defense, honest, objective advice from people who are not trying to please them, who are just trying to tell them the truth about what the consequences of any decision they might make would be.”

Kendall described speaking truth to political power as “a fundamental requirement” of senior military positions.