Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to announce he will cancel former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley’s security detail and clearance — and direct the Pentagon’s acting investigator general to launch an investigation into whether the retired soldier should be demoted in rank, Fox News reported Tuesday.
Despite retiring from the Army in September 2023, the Secret Service has continued to protect Milley due to Iranian threats of retaliation on him for his role in the drone strike ordered by Trump in 2020 that killed Tehran’s Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
Trump last week removed the protective security details from his former national security advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who both had protection for the same reason as Milley.
Hegseth will also direct the Defense Department’s Inspector General to conduct a review board to investigate whether Milley should be stripped of a star in his retirement based on his actions to “undermine the chain of command” during Trump’s first term, officials told Fox News.
Trump has been at odds with Milley since his first term in office, when the general made two calls to his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army behind Trump’s back.
“General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay,” Bob Woodward and Robert Costa in their book “Peril” claimed Milley told Li at the time. “We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.”
Trump has said he was never told about the calls, and claimed Milley could be “tried for TREASON in that he would have been dealing with his Chinese counterpart behind the President’s back and telling China that he would be giving them notification ‘of an attack.’ Can’t do that!” in a 2021 Truth Social post.
Milley has repeatedly spoken out about Trump in public and private, calling him a “dumbass” and a “fascist” in Woodward’s book.
Hegseth’s actions come after a new portrait of Milley was quietly removed from its place in the Pentagon hallway home to the joint staff hours after Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20 — and just 10 days after the painting was unveiled and displayed.
A second portrait of Milley in the Army’s Marshall Corridor in the Pentagon honoring his service as chief-of-staff of the Army will also be removed from the building, according to Fox News.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
