War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s notice to roughly 800 top military command officers to be at a Marine Corps site in Virginia for a Tuesday meeting is raising questions about the otherwise
shrouded event.
Nothing has been officially released by the War Department or the White House about the intent of bringing all top brass together in one location, which by all accounts has never happened.
Some speculation ties the event to potential downsizing of the military that Hegseth has mentioned previously. The Hill reported that the gathering might focus on short comments from Hegseth on the "warrior ethos" he mentions occasionally.
Hegseth told midshipmen during an early April Naval Academy visit that President Trump laid down the warrior approach to him. “He said to me, 'I need you to restore the warfighting piece of the military. It's gotten distracted by a lot of other things,'" Hegseth recalled.
But no one knows for sure what may happen Tuesday except Hegseth and presumably at least some of his top aides and maybe President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Both referenced the meeting earlier this week. Trump said he’d be there if needed.
The Democracy Forward Foundation is curious. It has gone so far as to file a Freedom of Information Act request with the government to try to squeeze out some information about the high-level event. The request claims the meeting has been called "without any clear purposes,” and that foundation wants to “shed light on this action."
Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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