U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has blocked the appointment of nine Air Force colonels and delayed the promotion of at least two dozen high-ranking officers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, as cited by Anadolu, according to Agerpres.

According to the article, Hegseth is targeting officers based on race and gender, ties to the previous administration’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, or a perceived lack of loyalty.

The identities of the nine Air Force officers blocked from promotion remain unknown. The Pentagon chief has also delayed or blocked promotions for high-ranking officers in the Army and Navy, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Hegseth promised at the start of his tenure to remove what he called “woke” admirals and generals, arguing that former President Joe Biden had promoted some of them to meet diversity quotas rather than on merit.

Since his appointment last year, Hegseth has fired or sidelined 20 high-ranking officers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C.Q. Brown, who is Black, and Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first female chief of naval operations.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell maintains that military promotions are based solely on merit and that the Department of Defense “will never consider the skin color or gender of service members as a factor in promotions.”

Under U.S. law, only the president can remove an officer’s name from a promotion list. The head of the Pentagon can recommend removal from the list, but can do so only in writing to the president, Anadolu reports.

The Wall Street Journal reports that it is unclear whether Hegseth followed the proper procedure.

source – AGERPRES