Pentagon officials are denouncing an alleged behind-the-scenes effort to have Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted from his position. The Daily Mail reported Wednesday on an alleged scheme by a group of military officers and civilian Pentagon officials to get Hegseth removed through a coordinated public pressure campaign centered around a letter signed by internal Pentagon personnel.
Three senior Pentagon officials — two military and one civilian, each with over two decades of service — spoke anonymously to discuss internal dissent, the outlet reported.
According to them, a small group of colleagues, including officers from every military branch except the Coast Guard and several civilian employees, convened at a private residence in May. Their goal: to strategize how to publicly expose what they see as Hegseth’s incompetence.
They agreed the message would carry more weight if it came from current rather than retired Defense Department personnel.
The group resolved to spend the next few months drafting the language for a joint letter, with plans to either share it with the press, publish it as a full-page newspaper ad, or release it online through social media or a dedicated website. They set a firm deadline for mid-July — this week — to finalize the letter and make it public by Friday, the 25th, marking six months since Hegseth took office, said the outlet.
The letter has been drafted, but as the planned release date approaches, organizers remain divided on whether to publish it with signatures from only those willing to risk their careers, or to find a way to involve more military personnel while shielding their identities.
To that end, the group is consulting with a public relations expert, a tech advisor, and grassroots organizers to devise a strategy for amplifying their message nationwide while minimizing the risk of retaliation, said the report.
Sean Parnell, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, denounced the coup plotters in an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast Wednesday morning.
"ANONYMOUS DEEP STATE HACKS" LETTER IN PENTAGON AGAINST HEGSETH-"COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS"
"Where were all these people and their anonymous deep state letters when Sec. Austin disappeared for a week…during the disastrous surrender of Afghanistan?" @SeanParnellUSA@Bannons_WarRoom pic.twitter.com/NcpUrYq3CC
— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) July 23, 2025
Parnell also pushed back on the Daily Mail report, calling it misleading and claiming it fuels a false narrative of dysfunction. In reality, he said, the Pentagon successfully executed the highly complex “Midnight Hammer” strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities just one month ago.
