Top military brass are privately sounding the alarm that President Donald Trump’s prolonged war with Iran is leaving the country vulnerable to attacks from elsewhere, a new report alleges.
Commanders have told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth they will carry out his orders to extend troop deployments to the Middle East, but sources tell The Washington Post these same leaders have also signaled disagreement with his decision-making.
Those pushing back against Hegseth include the heads of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as four-star commanders overseeing operations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, according to the Post.
These commanders shared apprehensions with Hegseth through the so-called Secretary of Defense Orders Book, a classified Pentagon document produced twice a month to outline the worldwide availability, readiness, and movement of U.S. forces.
Sources tell the Post that leaders of the U.S. European Command, the U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Southern Command, and the Navy’s top admiral each responded with a “non-concur” to Hegseth’s latest orders in the book. That is a way of telling the secretary that they do not agree with his orders, but will carry them out nevertheless.
People familiar with the matter said Army and Air Force leadership concurred with Hegseth’s order to extend the deployment of troops to the Middle East, but they “each emphasized that doing so would come with significant risk.”
Reached for comment, the Pentagon slammed the Post’s reporting as “fake news.”
“This fake news, poorly sourced reporting is full of inaccuracies, which is typical for The Washington Post,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told the Daily Beast. “Secretary Hegseth is actively engaged with the Services, the Joint Staff, and Combatant Commanders to ensure that U.S. forces are postured to deter conflict, respond effectively when required, and maintain acceptable levels of readiness.”
Parnell said the Pentagon does not discuss internal operational processes, including the Secretary of War Orders Book or whether top generals agree with Hegseth.
Among the concerns outlined by top military brass is that war with Iran is depleting U.S. defense capabilities against other adversaries, including China.
The Navy’s only dedicated aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean, a “linchpin of the military’s plan to deter Beijing,” has just been deployed to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, which spent roughly nine months at sea. Conditions on the Lincoln had become so dire, including a severe lack of supplies and fresh food, that some sailors tried to jump to their deaths.
The U.S. military is also running short of Patriot interceptors—a result of six months of war with Iran and previous donations to Ukraine. The Post reports that this has limited Trump’s ability to reescalate the war, as Tehran has proved capable of counterstriking. Eighteen troops have been killed by Iran, whose strikes have also caused billions in damage to U.S. bases in the region.
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors, which protect American assets and allies in the Middle East, as well as long-range Tomahawk missiles, are also reportedly running low.
The Post also reports that a quarter of the Pentagon’s all-important Reaper drone fleet has been lost in the war with Iran, harming the military’s ability to defend against a potential new conflict.
