Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has informed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff retired Army Gen. Mark Milley that he is revoking his personal security detail and suspending his security clearance, according to senior defense officials.
Hegseth is also directing the acting Department of Defense Inspector General to conduct a review board to determine whether he should keep his rank as a retired-four star general, due to his actions undermining the chain of command at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term.
“The Secretary informed General Milley today that he is revoking the authorization for his security detail and suspending his security clearance as well. The Secretary has also directed the DoD IG to conduct an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding Gen Milley’s conduct so that the Secretary may determine whether it is appropriate to reopen his military grade review determination,” Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot told Breitbart News in a statement.
Milley was assigned personal security details after the U.S. military conducted a fatal strike killing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani in 2020, and Iran vowed retaliation.
According to several book accounts, Milley had taken a number of actions to subvert Trump at the end of his first administration and undermine the chain of command — which as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, he was not technically a part of.
According to the book The Divider by Susan Glasser and Peter Baker, Milley wanted to resign in June 2020 under Trump and even drafted a letter to that effect but decided to stay and “fight” him from the “inside,” according to an excerpt from a new book.
Milley allegedly told his staff, “F-ck that shit. … I’ll just fight him,” and, “If they want to court-martial me, or put me in prison, have at it. … But I will fight from the inside.”
In addition, Milley allegedly told then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) he would not go along with efforts by Trump to “deploy the machinery of war for domestic political ends.”
He also allegedly convened the heads of the military branches, referred to as the Joint Chiefs, to “bolster their resolve to resist any dangerous political schemes from the White House.”
He also allegedly regularly contacted former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice and referred to Trump as the “enemy” to the Biden administration’s lead Pentagon transition official Christine Wormuth.
And according to the book War, by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Milley said he believed Trump was “fascist to the core!” and was worried about Trump’s mental stability and control of nuclear weapons.
Peril, an earlier Woodward book said Milley had directed senior military officers not to follow Trump’s orders, unless he approved them first — despite not being in the chain of command.
The book also said he called his Chinese counterpart twice, telling him that the U.S. dd not plan to strike China and that he would give him advance notice before any strike.
Pentagon Chief of Staff Joe Kasper said in a statement, “Undermining the chain of command is corrosive to our national security, and restoring accountability is a priority for the Defense Department under President Trump’s leadership.”
Fox News also reported that the Pentagon would remove a second portrait of Milley from inside the Pentagon from his time as the Army chief of staff as soon as Tuesday evening. Last Monday, on Inauguration Day, the Pentagon removed one portrait of Milley just ten days after it was mounted.
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