“People are scrambling to change their plans and see if they have to attend,” one US official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
US President Donald Trump didn’t seem to know about the meeting when asked about it by reporters during an Oval Office appearance on Friday (AEST).
US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the White House on Thursday.Credit: AP
“I’ll be there if they want me, but why is that such a big deal?” Trump said.
Vice President JD Vance argued that the media had turned it into a “big story” and that it was “not particularly unusual that generals who report to” Hegseth were coming to speak with him.
“It’s probably more mundane than people think … [but] the lack of clarity isn’t helping,” the US official said.
Bloomberg reported that a well-connected industrial official said he was told the gathering was about the coming national defence strategy.
The Washington Post said that none of the people it spoke to could recall a defence secretary ever ordering so many of the military’s generals and admirals to assemble like this. Several said it raised security concerns.
“People are very concerned,” one person told the Post. “They have no idea what it means.”
Others questioned the wisdom of doing so. “It will make the commands just diminished if something pops up,” a defence official told the Post.
Tuesday is also the final day of the US fiscal year – and the day before a possible shutdown, when government travel is normally prohibited, could begin. Travel could be allowed during a shutdown if deemed essential.
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The meeting comes on the heels of several unusual and unexplained actions that Hegseth has taken involving military leaders.
In May, he ordered that the military cut 20 per cent of its four-star general officers, directed an additional 10 per cent cut from all general and flag officers across the force, and told the National Guard to shed 20 per cent of its top positions.
In February, Hegseth fired Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top officer, and General James Slife, the Air Force’s second-highest officer, without explanation. He also relieved the military’s top lawyers.
Since then, Hegseth has fired other military leaders without saying why. Most recently it was a general who led a military intelligence agency whose initial assessment of US damage to Iranian nuclear sites in American strikes angered Trump.
AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
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