Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth commented on reports of a "list" of officers he plans to remove from the Pentagon during an interview on "FOX News Sunday." SHANNON BREAM: OK. I got to ask you about this rumored list of people that you allegedly put together that were all going to be cleaned out.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insists President Donald Trump ’s abrupt firing of the nation’s senior military officer amid a wave of dismissals at the Pentagon wasn't unusual, brushing aside outcry that the new administration is openly seeking to inject politics into the military.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the firing of the nation’s senior military officer and others at the Pentagon weren’t unusual despite accusations that the administration is injecting politics into the military.

As Trump and Musk move to dismantle the federal workforce and cut spending, those tasked with repatriating missing Americans fear their mission is in jeopardy.

The nominee to replace Gen. CQ Brown, the second Black officer to serve in the Pentagon’s senior military post, is a retired Air Force general.

The Pentagon announced Friday it plans to ultimately fire five to eight percent of the military’s approximately 950,000 civilian employees, with an initial tranche of 5,400 probationary workers who don’t have “mission-critical” roles expected to be terminated next week.

The dismissals will begin next week, officials said, and could expand to include tens of thousands of other workers throughout the Defense Department.

The Department of Defense has instructed its personnel not to respond to a request from the Office of Personnel Management asking for a list of five things they accomplished in the last week. Federal workers across several agencies received an email from OPM asking them to document five things they accomplished in the past week,

X owner Elon Musk recently demanded that all federal employees send him an email outlining five things that they accomplished in the last week -- and he warned them that failure to do so would result in their termination.