Hegseth orders rare, urgent meeting of numerous generals, admirals

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed numerous generals and admirals, as well as some of their staff, from around the world to come to Quantico, Virginia next week, U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News on Thursday.

“The Secretary of War will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week,” said chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.

There were no other details about the meeting given.

The news of the meeting was first reported in The Washington Post.

There are regularly scheduled meetings with senior military leaders, but a meeting of this size in person and on such short notice is rare, if not unprecedented.

Parnell confirmed that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders” likely on Tuesday, but he refused to give further details. The report stated that there are approximately 800 generals and admirals who are stationed across dozens of countries and all U.S. states and territories.

“Typically, these officers each oversee hundreds or thousands of rank-and-file troops,” the report added.

Hegseth also expects those in conflict zones to return for his in-person gathering. It will include top military leaders near Ukraine, in the Middle East and admirals in the waters off the coast of China, the Post reported.

The government is threatened with shut down the day after the planned meeting if Congress cannot agree on a budget bill.

By Agencies