Members of President-elect Donald Trump's transition team are preparing a list of military officers to be fired, potentially to include the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two sources briefed, in what would be an unprecedented shakeup at the Pentagon. Reuters.

Planning for the layoffs is in the early stages after Trump's election victory and could change as the Trump administration takes shape, the sources, who are familiar with Trump's transition and spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the plans, said.

One of the sources questioned the possibility of a mass layoff at the Pentagon. It was also unclear whether Trump himself would support the plan, although he has been widely critical of defense leaders in the past. Trump also spoke during the campaign about firing the "woke" generals responsible for the troubled withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

The second source said the next administration would likely focus on the United States. The military officers are believed to be related to Mark Milley, Trump's former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Trump's Joint Chiefs of Staff

Milley was quoted in Bob Woodward's book War, published last month, calling Trump a "fascist to the core," and Trump allies targeted him for perceived disloyalty to the former president.

"Every single person who was elevated and appointed by Milley will be gone," the second source said. "There is a very detailed list of everyone who was associated with Milley. And they will all be gone.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff include the most senior military officers in the United States and include the heads of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard, and Space Force.

The revelations of plans to fire senior US military leaders come a day after Trump picked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a veteran commentator who has signaled a willingness to "clean house" at the Pentagon.

"The next president of the United States needs to radically change the Pentagon's senior leadership to make us ready to defend our nation and defeat our enemies." A lot of people need to be fired," Hegsett said in his 2024 book, The War of the Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.

It's unclear whether Hegsett's lack of management experience could complicate his Senate confirmation, and whether a more traditional alternative to the position would have made such large layoffs.

Hegsett also took aim at Milley's successor, Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, questioning whether he would have gotten the job if he hadn't been black.

"Was it because of his skin color?" Or his skill? We'll never know, but we always suspect – which on its face seems unfair to CQ. It doesn't matter much," he wrote.

The first source familiar with the transition planning said Brown will be among the many officers to leave.

"The joint chiefs and all the deputy chiefs will be fired immediately," the source said, before noting that this is still only early planning.

Some current and former US officials downplayed the prospect of such a major shift, saying it would be unnecessary and disruptive at a time of global turmoil with wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The first source said it would be bureaucratically difficult to fire and replace large swaths of senior officials and military officials, suggesting the planning could be reckless and held up by Trump allies.