Retired Admiral Blasts Defense Secretary for Blocking Promotions and Undermining Women Recruiters

John Kirby, a retired rear admiral and former senior spokesman for the Defense, State and National Security Council, wrote that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has intervened in promotion boards, striking qualified officers from lists and blocking roughly 80 senior promotions, about ten percent of top officers. Kirby said half of those affected were Black or women, and cited the recent removal of four-star admiral Lisa Franchetti, Air Force Lt. General Jennifer Short, and Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield.

He noted that the share of high-ranking nominations for women is at its lowest level in more than two decades, and that Hegseth ordered a review of combat roles for women while dissolving the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. Kirby argued that the volunteer-based military cannot afford to lose this talent, especially as women comprise about ten percent of Marines and close to twenty percent of other services. He warned that current recruitment figures are only lagging indicators and that the long-term impact could be a decade-long deficit in leadership quality.