Mr. Hegseth’s spokesman, John Ullyot, said in a statement that the secretary directed the investigation to determine whether “it is appropriate” to review the rank upon retirement for General Milley, who stood up to President Trump in his first term. Essentially, Mr. Hegseth is asking whether General Milley should be demoted. “We have received the request and we are reviewing it,” Mollie Halpern, a spokeswoman for the acting Defense Department inspector general, said of the referral to examine General Milley’s actions as chairman. The general retired in 2023, and at a ceremony marking the occasion he reminded troops that they took an oath to the Constitution and not to a “a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.” Senior Pentagon officials late Tuesday sought to cast Mr. Milley as an insubordinate political operator while in the chairman’s job.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is revoking the security clearance and personal security detail for retired Army General and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday. Hegseth has also directed the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General to open an inquiry into Milley's conduct to determine whether it is appropriate to reopen an assessment of Milley's military grade, according to the Pentagon. "Undermining the chain of command is corrosive to our national security," Joe Kasper, the Defense Department Chief of Staff, said in a statement. Representatives for Milley could not be immediately reached.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will announce he is "immediately pulling" retired Gen. Mark Milley's personal security detail and security clearance, multiple senior administration officials tell Fox News. The secretary is also directing the new acting Inspector General to conduct a review board to determine if enough evidence exists for Gen. Milley to be stripped of a star in retirement based on his actions to "undermine the chain of command" during President Donald Trump's first term, officials say. The Pentagon will also be removing a second portrait of Gen. Milley inside the Pentagon. This one is from the Army's Marshall Corridor on the third floor honoring his service as chief-of-staff of the Army. Fox is told the removal of this second portrait will take place as soon as tonight. This means there will be no more portraits of Gen. Milley inside the Pentagon.