The Pentagon was rocked on Friday, October 3, 2025, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Navy chief of staff Jon Harrison, marking the latest—and perhaps most telling—move in a sweeping campaign to overhaul the U.S. military’s leadership and culture. Harrison, a Trump administration appointee who had served just nine months in this pivotal behind-the-scenes role, became the highest-profile casualty in a string of firings and reorganizations that have upended the Department of Defense—now officially renamed the Department of War under Hegseth’s stewardship.
According to Politico and other outlets, Harrison’s removal was confirmed by Pentagon officials and followed hot on the heels of the Senate’s confirmation of Hung Cao as Navy Undersecretary earlier that week. Cao, a Navy veteran and former Republican Senate candidate in Virginia, was nominated for the post by President Donald Trump. The pairing of these events is no coincidence. Over the past several months, Harrison and Navy Secretary John Phelan—a Trump mega-donor with no prior military experience—had set about consolidating the Navy’s policy and budgeting offices, a move widely interpreted as an attempt to limit the influence of the undersecretary’s office. They went so far as to reassign aides meant to help Cao transition into his new position and planned to personally interview all future assistants to ensure loyalty to the secretary’s office.
In a brief statement, the Pentagon said, “Jon Harrison will no longer serve as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Navy. We are grateful for his service to the Department.” The abruptness of the firing, however, speaks volumes about the internal struggles and shifting priorities at the highest levels of the military.
Harrison’s ouster is just one in a series of dramatic personnel changes orchestrated by Hegseth, who has made no secret of his intent to root out what he calls the “woke department” mentality and restore a singular focus on “warfighting.” In the past year alone, Hegseth has dismissed Admiral Lisa Franchetti, Chief of Naval Operations; Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, Chief of the Navy Reserve; Rear Admiral Milton Sands, Commander of Naval Special Warfare Command; and General Charles Q. Brown Jr., the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Earlier in 2025, he also dismissed the judge advocates general (JAGs) for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, later reassigning 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges in a bid to ease the backlog of immigration cases amid Trump’s mass deportation push, as reported by The Washington Post.
The rationale behind these moves was laid bare at an unprecedented gathering at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 30, 2025. There, Hegseth summoned hundreds of generals and admirals for a closed-door meeting and delivered what many described as a manifesto for his new “Department of War.” He declared, “The only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this: warfighting, preparing for war and preparing to win, unrelenting and uncompromising in that pursuit.”
Hegseth’s speech was a blistering critique of what he called “decades of decay” in the military, blaming “foolish and reckless politicians” for a focus on social justice, diversity initiatives, and climate change. “We lost our way. We became the woke department. But not anymore,” he said, vowing to eliminate “identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses, climate change worship, division, distraction or gender delusions.” In a particularly fiery passage, he added, “As I’ve said before and will say again, we are done with that shit.”
He made clear that his approach to reform centers on personnel: “If I’ve learned one core lesson in my eight months in this job, it’s that personnel is policy. The best way to take care of troops is to give them good leaders committed to the warfighting culture of the department.” Hegseth’s litmus test for military leaders is straightforward: those who embraced the previous administration’s priorities are out, while those aligned with his uncompromising vision are in.
As part of this new direction, Hegseth issued ten directives demanding stricter physical fitness and grooming standards, including a twice-yearly PT test and enforcement of height and weight requirements. “No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression,” he ordered. “If you want a beard, you can join Special Forces. If not, then shave.”
Hegseth also announced a sweeping overhaul of the Inspector General (IG) and Equal Opportunity (EO) processes, which he claimed had been “weaponized” by “complainers, ideologues and poor performers.” The new policy, dubbed the “no more walking on eggshells policy,” aims to empower commanders to enforce standards without fear of frivolous complaints. Hegseth explained, “We are overhauling an inspector general process, the IG, that has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues and poor performers in the driver’s seat.” The reforms require IG offices to determine whether tips are backed by “credible evidence” within seven days and to track “repeat complainants.”
Harrison’s firing, in this context, is more than a bureaucratic reshuffling. It’s a message to the entire military apparatus that resistance to Hegseth’s new order will not be tolerated—no matter how senior or influential the official. As Kurdistan24 reported, this internal power struggle over the role of the newly confirmed undersecretary was not just a bureaucratic dispute, but a test of the old guard against the new order being imposed from the top.
Harrison, who previously chaired the United States Arctic Research Commission and was involved in efforts to restore oil and gas drilling on government-owned Arctic land, had been a key player in the Trump administration’s defense agenda. His removal comes at a time when the Arctic has become a renewed point of interest for U.S. officials, with the Trump White House floating the idea of acquiring Greenland and Vice President Vance visiting the territory to highlight its strategic resources.
Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled on Friday that the Biden administration had overreached by indefinitely blocking new offshore drilling—a decision celebrated by oil and gas groups and one that underscores the shifting priorities in Washington.
For the Navy, which is grappling with delayed shipbuilding programs and competition from foreign adversaries, the message from Hegseth is unmistakable: the path to recovery starts not with new budgets or technology, but with new leaders who are fully committed to a singular, uncompromising vision of military readiness and victory. As the Pentagon continues its transformation under Hegseth, few doubt that more dramatic changes—and more high-profile departures—are on the horizon.
The firing of Jon Harrison may be just the latest chapter, but it’s a clear signal that the new era at the Department of War is here to stay—and that no one, no matter how entrenched, is immune to the sweeping changes underway.
