Hegseth Purges Army Brass While a Senator Demands He Keep Troops Away From Polling Places

The Army hasn't had a confirmed chief of staff since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired General Randy George in April. According to The New York Times, Hegseth has since pushed out at least three senior officers who were considered contenders to replace George.

The Times counts roughly half a dozen senior officers forced out under Hegseth: General James Mingus, the Army vice chief of staff let go last year with little explanation; General David Hodne, hired and fired within eight months; Major General William Green; General Christopher Donahue, the U.S. Army commander in Europe removed this month; and General James Slife, the Air Force vice chief of staff. General CQ Brown Jr. was removed as Joint Chiefs chairman early in President Trump's second term, and General David Allvin retired early last fall. The Times also reports Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, the service's top civilian, appears to be on his way out and has already moved out of the house he was renting near Washington.

When Hegseth was confirmed, the Army had 10 four-star generals on active duty. The Times reports that number is now down to five, the smallest active-duty four-star bench in years.

A Republican Breaks Ranks

Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and retired Air Force brigadier general, spoke out on CNN's "State of the Union." Asked by host Jake Tapper about the firings, Bacon said Hegseth's approach "caused damage to the Pentagon, to our overall military" and "politicized the process unnecessarily."

"Everybody knows when you're the new secretary, you're the boss," Bacon said. "He doesn't have to fire. I can see 1 or 2 if people aren't working out. But that's the way he's done it. It's been wholesale, and I think it's hurt the military."

Bacon, who served in the Air Force for nearly 30 years, said politics never entered into how his own units operated. "I could have told you who was Republican, Democrat in my unit, maybe with 1 or 2 of my closest friends as an exception. But for the most part, we never... You didn't know what some of political leanings were and you got a job done."

Bacon is significant because he's a retired general and a member of Hegseth's own party publicly saying the firings were excessive.

Democrats Frame It Around Iran

The New Republic connects the leadership gaps directly to the ongoing conflict with Iran, reporting that Army bases in the Middle East have taken heavy drone attacks since late February, with at least 18 U.S. servicemembers killed and more than 776 wounded. Rep. Pat Ryan, a New York Democrat and former Army intelligence officer, told the Times, "Hollowing out the most battle-tested and most lethal, proven leaders in a time of war means troops are less safe and we're less likely to win. We're doing generational damage to the sense that the military is an apolitical trusted organization that swears an oath to the Constitution, not to a president."

It is documented that senior officers have been removed at an unusual pace and that the Army lacks a confirmed chief of staff. It is not established in these sources that the firings themselves caused specific combat losses in the Iran conflict. Attributing battlefield casualties directly to personnel turnover at the top is a causal claim from Ryan and other Democrats.

The Election Question

Separately, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin sent letters Tuesday, August 18, to Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine asking them to confirm, in writing, that the Pentagon "will not send Federal troops to the polls or to seize election materials of any kind" during November's midterms, according to the Associated Press.

Slotkin told the AP that Trump "is very clearly laying the breadcrumbs to be able to say the day after the election that he didn't really lose the House or he didn't really lose the Senate." She pointed to Trump's past consideration of using the military to seize voting machines after his 2020 loss, National Guard deployments to cities over the objections of Democratic mayors and governors, and the 2025 deployment of active-duty Marines to Los Angeles during an immigration crackdown.

None of that is proof the administration plans to deploy troops to polling places in 2026. It's a pattern Slotkin cites to justify a demand for a written commitment. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair last year the idea the administration would use the military to suppress midterm voting is "categorically false, will not happen." Hegseth, asked directly at an April hearing whether he'd follow an order to seize ballots, called it a "gotcha hypothetical" but added, "I've never been ordered to do anything illegal, and I won't."

Federal law already bars deploying armed federal forces to polling locations except to "repel armed enemies of the United States." Any Guard involvement would run through state control, not the Pentagon directly. Slotkin introduced the Protect Our Polls Act in June to require congressional approval before troops could be sent near polling sites, but that bill has not become law.

The Pentagon told the AP it will respond to Slotkin's letter as it does with all congressional correspondence. Neither Hegseth nor Caine has issued the written confirmation Slotkin requested, and no timeline has been set for a response.