Pentagon chaos needs Congress' attention now

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll quit this week as the service’s top civilian leader. The resignation was expected amid the continuing internal chaos at the Pentagon under the starkly unqualified Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The departure is the latest signal of deeper disorder for the world’s top military as it is questionably used to pursue the Iran war. Personal clashes and idiosyncratic policies are the hallmark of Hegseth’s one year and seven months in office.

The secretary has been blocking the promotions of four Army officers selected for one-star general rank. He’s targeted seven officers chosen for two-star rank. In all he’s fired or blocked the rise of more than 80 career military leaders.

Hegseth is hollowing out professional, apolitical leaders to keep only “yes” men around him. That’s neither streamlining nor efficiency.

The military is thus adrift as drones and missiles besiege American bases in the Mideast. Worse yet, top brass have warned that prolonging large-scale operations against Iran cannot be sustained. Doing so will weaken the Defense Department’s ability to meet other threats elsewhere, even in the homeland, they said.

Poor problem-solving was apparent in the case of the USS Lincoln. The aircraft carrier was stranded in a combat zone without a port call. The record nine-month deployment resulted in physical and mental health problems severe enough for some sailors to try to jump overboard.

This Iran “excursion,” as President Donald Trump blithely called it, is six months old. Much of America’s long-range and air-defense missile stockpiles are used up. More than half of key interceptors are depleted and cannot be quickly replaced, analysts say.

Still, Hegseth focuses on oddball initiatives, such as promoting testosterone injections, eradicating beards and eliminating existing diversity, mostly female and Black service members.

Trump and Hegseth, a former Fox News weekend host, have an epic fiasco on their hands. The Strait of Hormuz remains choked and controlled by Iran. The iron rule of the ayatollahs is intact. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps still enforces for the regime. Allies from Europe to the Persian Gulf are angry and alienated. Even former senior Israeli officials and the nation’s main opposition party figures call the U.S.-Israel operation a bust.

Dangerous Pentagon chaos merits urgent attention from Congress. When Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized in 2024, and the Pentagon did not notify the White House, the House of Representatives carried out a full probe.

Veteran Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who last year cast a key vote to confirm Hegseth, now says: “I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country. He is intimidated by competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars.”

Tillis wants him to resign. We couldn’t agree more. Republican leaders of Congress are long overdue to probe the Pentagon. They must resolve to make a stand, however tardy, to expose the awful tenure of Hegseth, who holds one of the nation’s most important jobs.