Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blocked promotions of four Army officers picked for promotion to one-star rank, some of whom have ties to top Army generals the Pentagon chief ousted earlier this year, The Hill has learned. 

Some of the officers pulled from the list have links to former Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Randy George, who Hegseth removed in April, and to Gen. Chris Donahue, the commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa who was ousted by the defense secretary in June, a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, told The Hill on Friday. 

"Military promotions are given to those who have earned them. This has always been the case under Secretary Hegseth and will not change." Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told The Hill in a statement on Friday. 

Earlier this year, Hegseth intervened and removed four Army officers — two women and two Black men — from a one-star general promotion list to the dismay of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and other service branch officials, The Hill and other news outlets have reported. 

Hegseth's allies have argued the Pentagon does not factor in the color of a service member's skin or their gender. The defense secretary has blocked promotions of officers in the Air Force and Navy as well, rankling former military leaders who argued the moves are an abuse of his power. 

Ret. Lt. Gen. Richard Newton, who was the Assistant Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, previously said the Pentagon chief's blocked promotions are "unnecessary, unwarranted and it's certainly unprecedented." 

"I believe at the end of the day it's really not very good for good order of discipline inside the military ranks," Newton said. 

The New York Times reported earlier on Army officers' blocked promotions. 

Besides the blocked promotions, Hegseth has fired more than two senior military officers since taking the lead role at the Pentagon early last year. The Army has borne some of the brunt.

Hegseth removed George in early April, a decision that has unnerved some Republicans in Congress, and also ordered the ouster of Driscoll's adviser, Col. David Butler, in February. 

Gen. James Mingus, the Army vice chief of staff, retired in October.

In Mingus's place, President Trump and the defense secretary selected Gen. Christopher LaNeve, a former Hegseth military adviser. 

The Army has not had a Senate-confirmed chief of staff since George was removed. LaNeve, a former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., has been the acting chief of staff.

LaNeve needs unanimous support from GOP senators to advance out of the Senate Armed Services Committee, but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have had objections. 

Driscoll, an ally of Vice President Vance who developed a close working relationship with George, is looking to leave his post around the end of 2026 after a months-long turf war with Hegseth, The Hill reported last week.

The Army secretary is open to departing  "around" Labor Day, but the White House wants him to stay at least through the November midterms, according to one source familiar with the deliberations. 

Hegseth is considering Parnell, one of his senior advisors who is also the Pentagon's top spokesperson, to succeed Driscoll as Army Secretary, The Hill first reported on Wednesday. 

"Mr. Parnell has a deep bench of supporters throughout the Administration and has worked tirelessly to enable cultural change and accountability in the Pentagon," a Pentagon official previously said.

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