President Trump will now be meeting with four-star general candidates before their confirmation is sealed, according to the White House.
The president wants to meet with the candidates to ensure that they are focused on warfighting and the military’s dominance.
“President Trump wants to ensure our military is the greatest and most lethal fighting force in history, which is why he meets with four-star-general nominees directly to ensure they are war fighters first — not bureaucrats,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to multiple outlets.
The meetings are a departure from tradition, but it is within the commander-in-chief’s scope of authority. The decision has raised concerns about the politicizing of the upper brass of the U.S. military.
“While these officers are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, they are not political appointees,” retired Col. Heidi Urben, who is a professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University, told The New York Times, which first reported on the meetings.
Urben added that the interviews could make it seem like “they’re political appointees selected on the basis of their personal loyalty and partisan alignment.”
Others argued that the meetings could aid the candidates in getting a better sense of Trump’s vision for the U.S. military.
“Very welcome reform. I’ve long advocated for presidents to meet with 4-star nominees. President Trump’s most important responsibility is commander-in-chief,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who is on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a Tuesday post on social media platform X.
“The military-service chiefs and combatant commanders are hugely consequential jobs; they aren’t (no offense) just another assistant secretary of something,” he added. “I commend President Trump and Secretary Hegseth for treating these jobs with the seriousness they deserve.”
Last month, Trump delivered a speech at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he hammered his political rivals and the news media, prompting boos and cheers from the crowd filled with members of the military.
