As President Donald Trump’s war with Iran drags on, a growing number of House Republicans are sounding the alarm about top-level turnover at the Pentagon — with some of the GOP’s most prominent national security voices openly criticizing the recent departures.

“I’m tired of all the churn,” Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters on Tuesday. “I want to see some stability over there.”

Dan Driscoll, who served as Army secretary, became the latest top official to leave the Pentagon, submitting his resignation Monday night after he “spoke to the president about the current state of the Army,” according to a U.S. official.

Since April, at least four senior Defense officials have resigned or been forced out of their posts, leaving the Army without a Senate-confirmed civilian secretary or a Senate-confirmed military chief of staff.

Asked if he was concerned there was a vacuum of leadership at the Pentagon, Rogers answered plainly: “Yes.”

“The Army secretary’s gone. The chief of staff’s gone. The person being nominated for the position is interim and we don’t know if he’s gonna be confirmed,” Rogers told MS NOW. “Those are just not things that are ideal.”

Rogers isn’t alone. A handful of Republicans on Tuesday were increasingly questioning the personnel shake-ups under Hegseth.

Asked about the turmoil, Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said he wished there had not been “quite so much turnover with some of these senior officers.”

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told reporters he’d heard “rumors” that Driscoll “was frustrated with some of his top generals being released.” 

“And that’s not the first time I’ve heard that,” Rounds said.

He added that all the turnover pointed to a question senators would be asking when they got back to Washington: “Where is the leadership?”

“We’ve had some very good generals that are no longer there that we respected,” Rounds said. 

But some GOP lawmakers went beyond just lamenting the turnover. Some put the responsibility squarely on Hegseth.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb. — a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general — told reporters that Driscoll “reflects a view of many of us that the secretary has gone overboard on the firings, the redlines, with no explanation given.”

Bacon warned that the unexplained dismissals could come back to bite the Pentagon — and Hegseth specifically — in the future.

“The problem is, you may have the the legal right to do some of these things, but then they want help from Congress on things that we’re not 100% in, and so it’s hard to ask us to vote certain ways or to support certain policies when you don’t see it as being a two-way street,” Bacon said. “In other words — the secretary’s putting himself in a spot where he doesn’t get a lot of benefit of the doubt coming from Congress.”

Asked about Driscoll’s departure, one House Republican who sits on a national security committee and asked to remain anonymous told MS NOW the state of affairs at the Pentagon is a product of disagreements at the highest levels of the Defense Department — which, in the member’s eyes, is a problem.

“The biggest concern is it continues to show that there’s dissension within the Pentagon at the top that is not resolved,” this lawmaker said.

Naturally, Democrats took it a step further.

Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Hegseth “needs to go.”

“Instead of all of those generals who have lived their lives for the sake of this country, instead of him making them resign, he’s the one that should resign,” Meeks said.

While the reason for Driscoll’s resignation remains unclear, his departure comes as tensions with Hegseth mount. A source familiar with Driscoll’s decision told MS NOW that Driscoll was among the individuals who raised concerns with the Trump administration “surrounding Army transformation and readiness and Hegseth’s blocking those efforts specifically by firing the Generals who were responsible.”

In April, Hegseth asked Gen. Randy George — a Driscoll ally — to step down from his position as Army chief of staff, truncating his tenure that was supposed to run until the fall of 2027. George’s departure was announced without an explanation, and Hegseth has since pushed out at least three other officers who were seen as potential successors, according to The New York Times.

In June, Gen. Christopher Donahue, who at the time was the Army’s commander in Europe and Africa, unexpectedly stepped down from his post, with The Washington Post reporting that his resignation came after Hegseth tried to block an internal effort to extend Donahue’s career.

In a sign of the current situation, there are just five four-star generals currently on active duty in the Army, the smallest number in decades, according to The Washington Post.

Beyond the concerns about the circumstances of the recent Pentagon exits, some Republicans are openly worrying the Defense Department is being led by officials in acting capacities. 

By law, under secretary Mike Obadal is now expected to perform the duties of Army secretary until the Senate confirms a replacement. Gen. Christopher LaNeve is currently the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the Army, serving as acting chief of staff after he took over for George.

Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee who leads the Tactical Air and Land subcommittee, said it was “critical” to have someone who is Senate-confirmed leading the Army. 

“If you’re acting but you’re not confirmed by the Senate, I think that creates some challenges,” Wittman said, explaining that those individuals may question what they’re empowered to do.

Of course, not every Republican was concerned by the state of affairs at the Pentagon.

Asked by MS NOW on Tuesday about Driscoll’s resignation and the recent departures, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he doesn’t “really get involved in personnel decisions at the Pentagon.”

“I trust the Secretary of War to handle his business over there, and I frankly have not delved into those individual cases,” Johnson said. “I literally don’t have the bandwidth to go over there and micromanage the Pentagon.”

Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also brushed off the concerns and deferred to Hegseth’s leadership.

“Secretary Hegseth has every authority to go out there and say we’re going to have the right people cover in interim or in permanency, making sure they’re the most well-equipped, they’re the most motivated, they’re the most driven to go out there, train, and be ready for their job, and that’s what he’s going to do with whoever’s name is on the door,” Mast said.

Still, the departures come at a crucial time for Hegseth and the Defense Department. 

One of the key arguments for keeping Hegseth in his role is that the Pentagon needs stability during the Iran war. But the churn at the Pentagon is beginning to undercut that argument — particularly as Hegseth’s own decisions have contributed to the turnover.

Meanwhile, the departures could undermine Hegseth’s support with the key Republicans he needs to fund his military plus-ups.

When Rogers was asked about Driscoll’s resignation, his tone on Tuesday was telling.

“Just disappointed,” Rogers said.

Julia Jester and Ali Vitali contributed reporting.

The post ‘Tired of all the churn’: Key Republicans are starting to turn on Hegseth over Pentagon departures appeared first on MS NOW.

From MS Now.