A Quick Analysis of Secretary Hegseth’s General Officers Meeting

Commentary by Mark F. Cancian

Published September 25, 2025

On October 25, the Washington Post reported that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has called an in-person meeting of up to 800 flag and general officers (FOs/GOs, or officers of one to four stars). This will take place "early next week" at the Marine base in Quantico, Virginia. The Department of Defense has confirmed such a meeting.

There is tremendous uncertainty about why this meeting was called. There are frequent meetings of general officers for specific purposes. For example, the 11 four-star combatant commanders come to Washington every year to meet with the secretary, the chairman, and the president. Each service has a meeting of its flag and general officers and often its senior civilians as well. However, the reported scale of this meeting is unprecedented.

Although the announcement seems abrupt, the planning has apparently been going on in classified spaces for some time.

There is lots of speculation about what the meeting will concern. The flag and general officers are bringing their senior enlisted personnel, so it is unlikely that this will be some purge of general officers, as some have feared. One possible topic is a discussion of the National Defense Strategy, which the secretary is reportedly about to publish. It has been widely reported that this strategy will emphasize homeland security, and Hegseth may want to express that directly to his commanders. It would be a substantial change from recent strategies, which focused on China and Russia. It is also possible that he will announce consolidations of organizations. For example, there have been rumors of combining European Command and Africa Command as well as Southern Command and Northern Command. Finally, Hegseth may want to rally the troops and make a point-get onboard or leave-that is implied in much of his guidance.

There were inconsistencies in the Washington Post article, so the meeting may not be as large as reported. The article states that 800 general and flag officers would be coming, but that is nearly all the 838 such officers (as of June 2025). However, officers on staffs will be exempt. There are many such officers, which would bring the number substantially below 800. Wherever the number settles out, the meeting would still be unprecedented.

Security at Quantico will be a nightmare. Such a gathering of military leadership would be a target for terrorists and protesters. The base is large, with thousands of inhabitants and workers. The base may give up on trying to conduct its normal training and education activities and just close for a day or two. Be glad you are not Colonel Jenny Colegate, the base commander who will be in charge of administration, logistics, and security.

Gaps in command worldwide are potentially dangerous. Although there will be acting commanders still in place, the large number of absentees might open a vulnerability.

It is not clear why this could not have been done in a classified VTC meeting rather than bringing everyone physically to Washington.

Mark F. Cancian (colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, ret.) is a senior adviser with the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.

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