1. United States
2. S.D.
3. Letter

I am writing to you as a constituent and concerned citizen of Iowa to urge you to take immediate action regarding Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s conduct in office, including initiating proceedings for his removal.   On March 13, 2026, during a Pentagon press briefing on the ongoing military operations against Iran, Secretary Hegseth stated: “We will keep pressing, we will keep pushing, keep advancing, no quarter, no mercy for our enemies.” In military and legal parlance, “no quarter” means refusing to accept the surrender of enemy combatants and killing them instead. This is not ambiguous rhetoric. It is a directive that, if carried out, constitutes a war crime.   The prohibition against denying quarter is one of the oldest and most fundamental principles of the law of armed conflict. It is codified in the Hague Convention of 1907 (Article 23, Annex to Convention IV), the Geneva Conventions’ Additional Protocol I (Article 40), and is recognized as binding customary international law by the United States. The Department of Defense’s own Law of War Manual (pages 209–210) explicitly states: “It is forbidden to declare that no quarter will be given.” Even the mere declaration of no quarter—separate from carrying it out—is considered a war crime under both international and domestic law, including the 1996 War Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. § 2441). Following World War II, U.S. military tribunals at Nuremberg convicted senior German military officials for this very offense in the High Command Case.   This statement did not occur in isolation. Secretary Hegseth has established a troubling pattern of hostility toward the legal constraints that govern armed conflict:   •  In his book The War on Warriors, he described ordering subordinates to ignore legal advice on rules of engagement during his service in Iraq and wrote that America “should fight by its own rules” rather than follow the Geneva Conventions.   •  At his Senate confirmation hearing on January 14, 2025, he doubled down on this sentiment when questioned about it.   •  On September 30, 2025, speaking before more than 800 flag officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico, he declared that the military would operate under “no more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense, maximum lethality.”   •  On March 2, 2026, at the outset of Operation Epic Fury, he told reporters the U.S. military would be bound by “no stupid rules of engagement.”   •  He has initiated what has been described as a “ruthless overhaul” of the military’s Judge Advocate General corps and civilian legal counsel at the Pentagon—the very professionals whose role is to ensure compliance with the law of armed conflict.   Multiple legal experts and former government officials have publicly condemned Secretary Hegseth’s remarks. Brian Finucane, a former State Department war crimes lawyer and senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, has stated that the denial of quarter—including even the declaration of it—is a war crime recognized as such by the United States, punishable by up to life imprisonment under the DoD Manual for Military Commissions. Senator Mark Warner, the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has stated that this rhetoric “is unacceptable and actually endangers U.S. service members.” Professor Laurie Blank of Emory University has noted that even if interpreted as colloquial, such language from the Secretary of Defense is “entirely at odds with the concepts of honor and good faith that are part of the underpinnings of the law of war.”   These are not partisan concerns. The laws of war exist to protect American service members as much as they constrain our conduct. When our nation’s most senior defense official signals that surrender will not be accepted, he removes the incentive for enemy combatants to lay down their arms—prolonging conflict and increasing casualties on both sides. He also invites reciprocal treatment of American prisoners of war.   I respectfully urge you to:   1.  Publicly call for Secretary Hegseth to retract his “no quarter” statement and reaffirm U.S. commitment to the laws of armed conflict.   2.  Support and initiate congressional investigations into whether Secretary Hegseth’s directives have resulted in violations of the law of armed conflict during ongoing military operations.   3.  Pursue all available legislative and constitutional remedies for his removal from office, including impeachment proceedings, given the gravity and pattern of his conduct.   The moral authority of the United States and the safety of our men and women in uniform depend on our fidelity to the rule of law, even—especially—in times of war. I urge you to act.