Rank-and-file military officers are openly wondering whether the nation's top general has what it takes to stand up to Pete Hegseth as the defense secretary's personal "culture war" tears through the Pentagon, according to a deep dive from The New York Times.
The target of the "doubts" is Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the top military adviser to Hegseth and President Donald Trump.
Officers up to and including four-star generals are asking whether Caine has been too timid to protect the force as Hegseth "purges career officers" on a scale unlike anything seen in the Pentagon's modern history, slaps new limits on "where officers can study and what they can write in academic papers," and orders sweeping polygraph tests meant to sniff out leakers.
"Current and former military officials describe Mr. Hegseth’s tumultuous tenure as a persistent distraction that has pulled top leaders away from focusing on these priorities and fed a climate of mistrust in the top ranks. The officers spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution," The Times reported.
Notably, Caine himself has skipped that polygraph gauntlet, according to CBS News, even as Hegseth warns darkly that "leaked information risks lives."
Caine has stayed guarded about what advice he's actually given Hegseth, especially on messy personnel decisions, and a spokesman for the chairman declined to comment on it at all.
The "turmoil" is landing at the worst possible time, according to the Times, which added, "... the extended war with Iran has caused a series of cascading strains on the force. Long deployments have sapped the morale of sailors. Shortfalls of critical missile interceptors have raised troubling questions about the military’s ability to outlast Iran and fight a conflict in another part of the world."