Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revokes security detail for retired Gen. Mark Milley

Zoe Ma and John Harney, Bloomberg News on Jan 29, 2025

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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has revoked the security clearance and security detail authorization for Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a prominent critic of President Donald Trump.

In a statement late Tuesday night, the Defense Department said Hegseth — who was sworn in over the weekend — had also asked the Pentagon’s inspector general “to conduct an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding General Milley’s conduct so that the secretary may determine whether it is appropriate to reopen his military grade review determination.”

Such a review could lead to a post-retirement demotion. Milley, who retired from the Army in 2023, received a pardon from President Joe Biden on his last day in office, along with others whom Trump had labeled as political enemies.

Milley’s portrait was removed from a Pentagon hallway shortly after Trump was inaugurated. He had served under Trump but later called him “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country.”

Hegseth told Fox News on Wednesday evening that “it’s the understanding that if you actively undermine the chain of command, as General Milley did under the previous Trump administration, we’re going to review those actions administratively inside the Defense Department.”

Last week, Trump also revoked security details for former national security adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Brian Hook, the former special representative for Iran during the first Trump administration.

Biden had authorized security details for all three men — along with Milley and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper — because they planned and executed with Trump’s approval the Jan. 2020 drone strike killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Since then U.S. intelligence had assessed they were in danger of Iranian retaliation.

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(With assistance from Tony Capaccio, Akayla Gardner and Courtney McBride.)

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