Donald Trump's presidential transition team is drafting an executive order that would allow him to purge military leaders, according to a report.
They're thinking of calling it the "warrior board," which would have retired senior military personnel who can sort through people they believe should be removed from the armed forces, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The report said this could help "fast-track" the removal of people that Trump allies feel lack "requisite leadership qualities."
The Journal has seen the draft, and revealed it wants to create a review process that focuses “on leadership capability, strategic readiness, and commitment to military excellence.”
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There is no definition of what officers must do to meet the standards, however. The report said that the executive order is one of numerous crafted by "outside policy groups" working with the transition.
The Heritage Foundation's "Project 2025" defined a military aim this way: “Our goal is to assemble an army of aligned, vetted, trained, and prepared conservatives to go to work on Day One to deconstruct the Administrative State,” a prelude to the handbook states, according to an analysis by the Military Times.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump pledged to purge the military of "woke generals," those who believe in diversity in the armed forces.
"As commander in chief, Trump can fire any officer at will, but an outside board whose members he appoints would bypass the Pentagon’s regular promotion system, signaling across the military that he intends to purge a number of generals and admirals," said the Journal.
Citing a person with knowledge of the transition said of the military: “It’s gotten way too big. Trump also expects that many of the generals, the three- and four-star generals that have been under performing will basically be retired.”
A former senior Pentagon official anticipated what that would look like.
“Do they start wearing MAGA hats in formation to signal who’s where?” the person told the Journal. “The potential for this to go wrong is infinite.”