Dead Letter: Group of Military Officers and Civilian Pentagon Staff Plot to Force Pete Hegseth Out as SecDef

The Daily Mail reported Wednesday on a plot by a group of military officers and civilian Pentagon staff to force Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth out of office through a public pressure campaign based on a letter signed by Pentagon insiders.

Citing the usual deep state concerns about Hegseth’s leadership, priorities and performance, three of the coup plotters spoke on background to the Daily Mail about the scheme (excerpt from long detailed article):

Three Pentagon officials — two military and one civilian, and each with at least 20 years in the department — spoke on the condition of anonymity.

…The three Pentagon officials we spoke with told us that a small group of their colleagues — including officers from all military branches except for the Coast Guard — and some civilian workers met at a private home in May to discuss how to get the word out about what they view as Hegseth’s incompetence.

They agreed the message would be stronger coming from current rather than retired DOD personnel.

Attendees jointly decided to give themselves a few months to agree on the wording of a joint letter that they would either send to the news media, run as an ad in a major newspaper or launch online via social media or a newly created web site.

They set a deadline for mid-July — this week — to finalize the letter so it could be made public by next Friday, the 25th, which marks Hegseth’s half-year in office.

The letter is written but, as the planned launch date nears, organizers are undecided about whether it should be signed only by the few people willing to jeopardize their careers, or if there’s a way to organize broader engagement throughout the military by protecting signers’ identities.

The group is in discussion with a public relations advisor, tech consultant and community organizers in hopes of finding a way to broadcast their complaints far and wide throughout the U.S. while limiting the risk of retaliation.

Sean Parnell, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, denounced the coup plotters in an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room Wednesday morning:

“ANONYMOUS DEEP STATE HACKS” LETTER IN PENTAGON AGAINST HEGSETH-“COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS”

“Where were all these people and their anonymous deep state letters when Sec. Austin disappeared for a week…during the disastrous surrender of Afghanistan?” @SeanParnellUSA@Bannons_WarRoom pic.twitter.com/NcpUrYq3CC

— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) July 23, 2025

Parnell also said the Daily Mail report feeds a false narrative of chaos when the reality is the Pentagon performed the highly complex and very successful ‘Midnight Hammer’ attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities one month ago.

Parnell told the Daily Mail the coup effort report is, “”palace intrigue’ or ‘sensationalized mainstream media gossip’ that he said Americans ‘don’t care about.’ ‘They care about action, he said.”

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