Overview

• The White House has acknowledged that nominees for four-star ranks now meet with President Trump, marking a formal departure from decades-old Pentagon procedures.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instituted the directive to ensure candidates are “war fighters first — not bureaucrats,” according to assistant press secretary Anna Kelly.
• Senator Tom Cotton and other backers have praised the move as a necessary reform to enhance presidential oversight of senior military appointments.
• Opponents caution that personal interviews could politicize the general officer corps and erode the tradition of an apolitical military leadership.
• The new requirement follows Hegseth’s broader leadership shake-up at the Defense Department and heightens scrutiny of President Trump’s past use of military forces in political settings.