1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

Hegseth Purges Heroes and Subverts Free Press I am a voting constituent writing to demand immediate Congressional intervention to remove Secretary Pete Hegseth from his position. Recent reporting confirms that Secretary Hegseth is actively subverting democratic norms, undermining national security, and weaponizing his office to enforce an aggressive, ideologically driven purge of our armed forces. Hegseth recently and repeatedly intervened in the military’s apolitical, merit-based promotion system to manually strike highly decorated Navy officers from a one-star admiral promotion list. His targets disproportionately include women and Black officers—individuals who dedicated decades of exemplary service to this country. Bypassing established selection boards to install personal ideological loyalty over proven military excellence, Hegseth is actively hollowing out the military’s bench of experience and fracturing the integrity of our defense leadership. Simultaneously, Hegseth is launching an unprecedented assault on the First Amendment to hide his radical agenda from public scrutiny. The Pentagon has barred independent journalists from entering its press office, designating the space as a classified facility to evade transparent reporting. This assault on our free press follows repeated, unconstitutional attempts to force reporters to sign silence pledges and the retaliatory closure of the decades-old Correspondents’ Corridor. A Secretary of Defense who subverts a meritocratic military to enforce bigoted purges, exhibits a zealous appetite for institutional hostility, and dismantles press transparency has no place leading the men and women of our armed forces. This fascist-style overreach directly threatens national security, recruitment, and the constitutional principles you and I swore to defend. I urge you to exercise congressional oversight immediately and demand his removal.