cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/54211228
A senior official exclusively told MS NOW how decorated military officers with decades of experience were withheld from promotion after Pentagon staff printed out internet searches showing they had attended official events like promoting Covid-19 vaccinations or marking International Women’s Day.
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The senior official described to MS NOW how Hegseth’s executive office led a planned and deliberate process that involved creating paper-only files filled with printouts from internet searches that were inaccessible to the officers under consideration. Hegseth’s office gave instructions about the new criteria over the phone instead of in writing.
That meant brushing aside highly decorated officers with decades of experience leading carrier strike groups, thousands of flight hours on dozens of different aircraft, multiple joint assignments inside the Pentagon and shore and sea duty locations around the world. Some had multiple advanced degrees from schools like MIT and Johns Hopkins, and others had deployed in support of several conflicts like the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS.
But those same officers had findings from the internet searches that disqualified them based on Hegseth’s criteria. The senior official described to MS NOW what was in the paper files for more than a dozen of the senior officers whose promotions were withheld. Some of the findings put into the paper-only files included officers who allowed a celebration that included rainbow flags, a Pride Month event and stood up a diversity committee and task force on the USS Kearsarge to combat discrimination.
Other examples among the officers included: served as a diversity liaison officer early in their career, disciplined an officer in their command who refused to take the Covid vaccine, spoke at a National Hispanic American Heritage Month celebration aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, participated in a Minority Aviation Panel at the Naval Academy, spoke about the importance of taking Covid vaccines, participated in AFRICOM’s International Women’s Day panel, made a statement about being a “champion for inclusion,” participated in a discussion with the African American Employee Resource Group, took a photo with the command triad after their second Covid vaccination on the USS Carl Vinson, made statements encouraging sailors to get Covid vaccines, wrote an article about diversity in a publication and was quoted in an article talking about the importance of diversity.
The way that Hegseth’s office intervened may have also broken the law, said the three senior officials. Cody Harnish, military defense attorney and former Army judge advocate general, said the way that officers were pulled from the promotion list after being selected “is illegal.”
Hegseth was a "Major" in the Army before becoming secretary of defense, that's rank O-4. He replaced someone who was a 4 star general O-10.
They ran on "hiring by merit" and put someone 6 ranks lower in as secretary of defense.
There shouldn't have been a single veteran or member of the military who didn't look at that and say.. wtf?
Tbh there is something to be said about political control of the only organization that can take control by force. How you don't give that control to someone who until recently an integrated part of it.
But that person then needs the same decades of experience in the various political roles controlling it. Oversight, budget, and so on. Perhaps some involvement at lower level like company commander.
But I totally agree on the basic principle of your argument. Hegseth is utterly incompetent and has no merit. His hireing policy is also designed to ruin the US armed forced that its almost like he is a plant from a hostile nation.
Honestly, I think a plant would have been more subtle.
The ideal would be someone who was say a Major, or a relatively high rank, then left the military and had a successful career as an executive in the private sector, or one who reached a very high non-appointed post in the government via promotion. Someone who is familiar with the culture of the military and understands how things work, but doesn't know the high ranking military members, and has no friendships with them, no obligations to them and won't show any favouritism. OTOH, someone who has the personnel-management skills and small "p" political skills that you need in that kind of job.
Hostile nations don't need to put plants into all positions. They just need a few, and then make sure those hire morons. He could be either, or both.
Kegsbreath is a civilian now - Secretary of Defence is a civilian position, no matter how much he wants to cosplay being military.
Meritorious O-4