Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth personally struck at least seven Navy officers, every woman among them, from a list of candidates for admiral before pressing the service to fast-track his own military aide, a New York Times investigation has found.
The reporting, published on 1 June 2026, describes a flag-officer slate reshaped by direct political intervention rather than the recommendations of a sitting promotion board. It arrives amid a broader pattern of dismissals that has fallen heavily on senior women and minorities across the armed forces.
