Pete Hegseth buries secret Pentagon report after top generals stage stunning revolt
The Pentagon has scrubbed a secret report from its computer network after top generals used the intelligence assessment to push back against Pete Hegseth’s orders to keep pouring troops and weapons into the Iran war.
The commanders overseeing US forces in Europe, Asia and Latin America, along with the navy’s top admiral, formally ‘non-concurred’ with Hegseth’s push to keep more than 50,000 troops in the Middle East on alert, the Washington Post reported earlier this week.
Their split was recorded in the Secretary of Defense Orders Book, or SDOB, a classified Pentagon document typically produced twice a month.
The file tracks the worldwide availability of US military forces while also translating the President’s military priorities into orders issued by the Pentagon.
The recent purge removed decades of orders books from an internal portal on the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, known as SIPRNet, sources told the Washington Post.
The system is routinely used by military personnel to view information classified as secret, while top-secret material is stored on separate networks with tighter access.
It remains unclear whether the files were moved to a more restricted system or are still available to personnel elsewhere.
A former defense official warned the clampdown would ‘dramatically reduce’ direct access to the orders and could slow urgent decisions involving the movement of aircraft, weapons and troops.
In private, US general have warned Hegseth that their outlook on the Iran war had grown ‘more dire’ because the conflict’s trajectory appears uncertain
The Pentagon has scrubbed a secret report from its computer network after top generals used the intelligence assessment to push back against Pete Hegseth’s orders to keep pouring troops and weapons into the Iran war
The commanders overseeing US forces in Europe, Asia and Latin America, along with the navy’s top admiral, formally ‘non-concurred’ with Pete Hegseth’s push to keep more than 50,000 troops in the Middle East on alert
The purge removed decades of orders books from an internal portal on the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, known as SIPRNe
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell declined to explain the decision but did not dispute it.
Military planners must move quickly when aircraft, weapons and other resources are shifted from one region of the world to another.
The restrictions could force them to clear new hurdles before obtaining crucial documents, delaying urgent deployments even though the information has not been placed entirely beyond their reach, the former official warned the Washington Post.
Hegseth is also facing fresh turmoil after Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned just 18 months into the job.
Driscoll offered no public explanation, but his departure followed months of friction over Hegseth’s removal of senior officers involved in Army modernization, including General Randy George.
Just days before resigning, Driscoll went to Trump directly to warn him that Hegseth’s purge of senior officers was weakening the Army as the Iran war placed mounting demands on the force, according to the Atlantic.
Trump was reportedly surprised by the number of generals who had been fired, forced out or denied promotions and urged Driscoll to stay.
Despite Trump’s request, Driscoll resigned anyway, leaving the Army without a Senate-confirmed civilian or uniformed leader while tens of thousands of soldiers remain deployed across the Middle East.
Six months after the US and Israel launched war with Iran, the conflict has far outlasted the Trump administration’s initial four-to-six-week estimate.
Eighteen American service members have been killed and more than 750 have been wounded
The World Health Organization reports at least 3,375 Iranians have been killed and more than 33,000 have been injured.
