Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of two Black Army officers to one-star generals, even as the U.S. military’s leadership remains overwhelmingly white under the Trump administration.
According to the New York Times, Hegseth unilaterally struck the officers’ names from the promotion list after previous resistance from senior Army leaders, including Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll. The military’s top leader also removed two women from the list. However, the Defense Secretary may not have had the authority to do so.
The promotion list consists of about three dozen officers, most of whom are white men, the Times reports.
The move from Hegseth follows a series of actions that military and veteran advocates say target Black servicemembers, including the firing of top-ranking officers like former Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr., who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and implementing anti-DEI policies like the ending of a grooming policy that allowed Black men with skin conditions to waive rules around shaving their beards. Collectively, critics say these actions create an unwelcoming environment for Black and Brown military men and women, who make up 43% of the 1.3 million U.S. troops.
“I would not encourage a person of color to go into service right now,” said Ed Anderson, an Air Force veteran and organizer for Common Defense, an advocacy group for veterans and military servicemembers. He told theGrio, “I would hate to be in the service right now with what’s happening. I dealt with the racism of the ’70s, the post-Vietnam era, and I see it rearing its head again.”
The Times also reported that Hegseth’s chief of staff, Ricky Buria, initially moved to stop the promotion of Maj. Gen. Antoinette R. Gant, to command the Military District of Washington–a role that provides security and performs ceremonial duties in Washington, D.C., and often appears alongside the president at Arlington National Cemetery. Buria reportedly told Army Secretary Driscoll that President Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events. Buria has denied the claim. General Gant was ultimately installed to the role and was promoted to a two-star rank earlier this month.
Anderson said of the reported efforts to sideline General Gant, “That’s like somebody riding up to me with a KKK hood on and robe and telling me they’re not a racist,” He added, “It’s all about race. Going back to CQ Brown and just overturning everything [President Barack] Obama and General Austin put in place. The racism and the misogyny is so blatant and so evident.”
Hegseth, empowered by President Donald Trump’s aggressive targeting of racial equity policies across the U.S. government and beyond, has used his powerful role to castigate what he has called a culture of “wokeness.”
“An entire generation of generals and admirals was told that they must parrot the insane fallacy that ‘Our diversity is our strength.’ …They had to put out dizzying DEI and LGBTQI+ statements,” Hegseth said during an unprecedented meeting in September 2025, in which he and President Trump summoned the military’s top admirals and generals. “We became the woke department. No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions…we are done with that s—t.”
Hegseth’s leadership of the Department of Defense, which has since been renamed by Trump as the Department of War, is a noticeable departure from the Biden-Harris administration.
In 2020, President Joe Biden selected General Lloyd Austin to serve as Defense Secretary, making the four-star general the first African-American to lead the U.S. military. Together, Biden and Austin sought to diversify the pool of qualified military members to serve in the department’s top ranks, which has for centuries been dominated by white men.
“We need his personal experience, helping inform our efforts to ensure that our armed forces reflect the full strength and diversity of our nation, that Black, Latino, Asian American, Native American, women, men, LGBT service members are treated with dignity and respect,” said Biden as he announced General Austin as his pick to run the Defense Department.
“At a time when more than 40% of our active duty forces are people of color, it’s long past time that the Department’s leadership reflects that diversity, and we need his in-depth understanding of what it takes to deter threats wherever they arise and to defend the American people, our vital interests, and our allies.”
