Pentagon chief Hegseth yanks Gen. Milley's security detail and clearance

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told retired Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that he was revoking his security clearance and removing his protective security detail. 

Mr. Hegseth also ordered the Pentagon’s inspector general to conduct an official inquiry into Gen. Milley’s conduct as the nation’s senior military officer, a Defense Department official said late Tuesday.

Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot said the IG investigation will “determine whether it is appropriate to reopen (Gen. Milley’s) military grade review determination.”

The inquiry will conclude if the former JCS chairman, who retired as a 4-star general, should be demoted.

Gen. Milley and other officials in the first Trump administration were assigned government security details because of threats made against them following a U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in early 2020.

During his retirement in September 2023, Gen. Milley said military officers don’t take an oath to a king or a queen or a “wannabe dictator.”

“We don’t take an oath to an individual,” he said. “We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”

President Trump accused Gen. MIlley of treasonous behavior amid reports that he made phone calls to senior Chinese military officials during the final weeks of the president’s first term in the White House to assure them that the United States was not going to launch an attack against them.

“I am certain that President Trump did not intend to attack the Chinese, and it was my directed responsibility by the secretary (of defense) to convey that intent to the Chinese,” Gen. Milley told lawmakers on Capitol Hill. “My task at that time was to de-escalate. My message again was consistent: Stay calm, steady, and de-escalate. We are not going to attack you.”

While Gen. Milley said the telephone calls were made with the approval of former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, Trump administration officials said he went beyond his authority.

“Undermining the chain of command is corrosive to our national security, and restoring accountability is a priority for the Defense Department under President Trump’s leadership,” Defense Department Chief of Staff Joe Kasper said in a statement late Tuesday.

Gen. Milley has said he feared being recalled to active duty and court-martialed if Mr. Trump returned to the White House. President Biden gave him a pre-emptive pardon shortly before he left office.

The White House ordered Gen. MIlley’s portrait removed from the hallway outside the JCS chairman’s office. The Trump administration is reportedly planning to remove another portrait of him in the Pentagon that was made while he was Army chief of staff.