Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ran a secret online search operation that effectively punished subordinates for behavior he has described as "woke."

The result of what the New York Times called Hegseth's "war on diversity" had serious consequences for officers who were up for promotion.

Hegseth and his top aides ordered the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to scour the internet for photos, videos or news articles that might draw his ire, the Times reported Friday. Then his own staff ran the searches again — to make sure the branches hadn't missed anything, or tried to protect anyone.

Inside the Pentagon, the flagged material was code-named "derogatory material" screening.

Hegseth blocked promotions for at least 40 senior officers to general and admiral ranks this year. About half were women or members of minority groups.

Officers who had spoken publicly about diversity or urged troops to get the COVID vaccine were targeted. Photos and articles posted on official Navy websites were turned into evidence against the officers they once celebrated.

Rear Adm. Stephen Barnett, already a one-star admiral, was the Navy's top pick to be promoted to vice admiral and run its global base command — more experienced than any other candidate, and fresh off three years cleaning up a catastrophic fuel spill in Hawaii that sickened thousands. Hegseth passed over him anyway, selecting the Navy's third choice, after flagging Barnett's years-old remarks on the importance of diversity.

Hegseth has made no secret of what he was after. At West Point last month, he told graduates that previous military leaders had been "woke and weak." He declared at the Army War College in 2025 that "DEI is dead."

It was not clear whether Hegseth had the legal authority to pull names from the lists at all — Congress had entrusted that power to the service secretaries, not the defense secretary.

President Donald Trump's new acting spy chief arrived at his post Friday with orders to fire hundreds of intelligence officials — clearing the way for Trump's election meddling aspirations in the midterms.

Bill Pulte, who took over the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Friday without Senate confirmation, can hold the post for up to 210 days under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act — well past November's midterm elections.

CNN reported that Pulte showed up on his first day with a list of employees and that he "eyes firing hundreds."

Trump has been explicit about what he wants Pulte to do with that window.

"He may find out some things about the rigged elections," Trump told reporters this month. "I think he wants to do it very much."

Reuters reported Friday that the White House has suppressed an ODNI report on voting machine vulnerabilities for months.

Some officials believe the report doesn't go far enough to validate Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Pulte has already been briefed on it, two sources told Reuters.

Trump has told the Wall Street Journal he wants Pulte to fire "a lot of people." Pulte's acting status is the point, Trump said: "You're less shackled."

Those firings would gut the career analysts most likely to push back on the ODNI report's findings, and on any action taken aimed at midterms.

Reuters and Foreign Policy have reported that the CIA has already stopped contributing to some ODNI assessments because of friction under outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard, and that top analysts are avoiding the National Intelligence Council for fear of political pressure.

"DNI Gabbard spent 18 months and untold taxpayer dollars trying to give substance to lies about the 2020 election and found absolutely nothing," election law expert David Becker said, adding that Pulte was "hand-picked to replace her precisely because he too embraces the lies and conspiracy theories while ignoring the evidence."

Donald Trump's physical appearance at this week's G7 summit disconcerted a panelist on MS NOW — who was lightly scolded by the host for pointing out the president's apparent decline.

Joel Payne, the chief communications officer for MoveOn, appeared Friday morning on "Money, Power, Politics," where he commented on the 80-year-old president's appearance at the global leadership event as his administration negotiated an end to the war in Iran.

"Can I add one thing?" Payne said. "It's very clear to me Trump is out, he's done with this. He's turned the page on this. He's done with this war."

"That's exactly why the markets have soared," interjected host Stephanie Ruhle, "because they're, like, he's done, he's finished, because investors aren't thinking about what the impacts are."

Ruhle apologized for interrupting and invited Payne to continue.

"He's done with any responsibility for what happens after the fact," Payne continued. "He signed this treaty. He's done his pomp and circumstance, as your [report] just expertly laid out, and he's done. Also, he looks awful, and I'm not saying that just as an aesthetic. I'm saying that looking back to the previous president we had with Joe Biden and the loss of confidence in American leadership, in part because of that, Donald Trump has not actually looked like the bold, dynamic leader publicly."

Ruhle interjected again, suggesting his statements were unfair to the president.

"You can take any president, any president, from beginning to end," she said. "They're not looking so strong."

Payne begged to differ.

"Steph, he looked pretty rough this week," he said.

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