WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is pulling security protections and clearance for retired Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark Milley and has ordered the Pentagon’s inspector general to review Milley’s actions while serving as the nation’s top uniformed officer to determine if a demotion is warranted, two defense officials said.
The inspector general review will include “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 said late Tuesday.
“The Secretary informed General Milley today that he is revoking the authorization for his security detail and suspending his security clearance as well,” he said.
Milley served as chairman during President Donald Trump’s first term. While the relationship initially went well, it soured deeply and fast, as Milley tried to advise and contain the president on a host of issues.
He pushed back on the president’s interest in using the military domestically to quell protesters after the death of George Floyd, and he was at the center of a controversy in 2021 when he made independent calls to his Chinese counterpart.
Trump said those calls were an act of treason, but at the time, Milley said the calls were routine and part of the scope of his job.
In his final days as chairman after Trump had left office, Milley was equally outspoken about his former boss. He said at his official retirement ceremony that “ we don’t take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”
“We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it,” he said at the time.
It’s unclear whether former President Joe Biden’s unusual preemptive pardon of Milley would protect his rank and preclude any findings from an inspector general investigation.
Biden pardoned Milley in the last days of his presidency, which Milley thanked him for, saying, “I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights.”
Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, said the decision to strip Milley of his clearance and security detail was taken because “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.”
Milley had security protections after Trump in his first term ordered a 2020 military strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani. U.S. intelligence and security officials say Iran is intent on seeking revenge for Soleimani’s killing.
Trump has revoked those protections and security clearances for other former officials in his first administration who also were facing threats from Iran, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, his top aide, Brian Hook, and former national security adviser John Bolton.
The moves against Milley, which were first reported by Fox News, also included removing his Army chief of staff portrait at the Pentagon. On Wednesday, the wall where it used to hang was empty, with the holes for fasteners still visible.
Another portrait of Milley, as chairman, was stripped from the wall just hours after Trump was sworn in. Both were both funded by a donation from the Association of the United States Army, not taxpayer dollars, and were a gift from the Army to Milley honoring his service.
In a statement, the group said it had been providing the money for portraits for outgoing top Army leaders and Joint Chiefs chairmen who are Army general officers for the past 30 years.
“The portraits are property of the Department of the Army, or in the case of the chairman, the Department of Defense,” the group said.
