Welcome back! Thank you to everyone who responded to last week’s Pentagon Rundown with story suggestions and tips. I deeply appreciate that you took the time to share your insight, and you have a standing invitation to continue to provide story ideas to me and the rest of the Task & Purpose team. If I haven’t responded to you, it’s because my computer is even slower than a government-issue desktop.
Several of you wrote in to express concern about how veterans are affected by the thousands of recent layoffs at federal agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs as part of an ongoing effort by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to streamline the government. Since veterans make up roughly 30% of the more than 2.2 million people who work for the federal government, the veteran community has likely been hit hard by these mass firings, national commander for Veterans of Foreign Wars, Al Lipphardt wrote in a recent statement.
Paralyzed Veterans of America issued a statement on Wednesday that it is concerned about how the cuts to the VA will affect the agency’s research projects. “Research focused on veterans, particularly those with catastrophic disabilities like SCI/D [spinal cord injury or disorder], has changed the world for the better,” the statement says. “It has improved and even saved the lives of countless veterans and other Americans.”
The long-term consequences of the cuts to the VA are unclear. Few specifics have been released from the VA about the more than 2,400 employees recently dismissed from the department. It is also unclear which programs and contracts the VA intends to cut or scale back. That is why it is so important that we hear directly from the people impacted by these recent decisions, whether they are VA employees, owners of veteran-run businesses contracted through the VA, or veterans who rely on these programs.
If you are a veteran who has been terminated from the VA or another federal agency, or you know people who have been, please feel free to email me at [email protected] to let us know which stories the veteran community needs to know about.
With that, here’s your weekly rundown.
- Generals may be fired over Afghanistan withdrawal. President Donald Trump indicated to reporters at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that senior military leaders involved with the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August 2021 could be fired. Pointing to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was sitting next to him, Trump said, “If I had his place, I’d fire every single one of them.” The president later added, “I think they’re going to be largely gone.” Hegseth told reporters that the Pentagon is conducting a thorough review of the withdrawal, saying “we plan to have full accountability.” Hegseth did not specify what actions the Pentagon might take. His comments came after several top military leaders were fired on Feb. 21, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Charles Q. “CQ” Brown Jr., whom Hegseth later described to Fox News as “not the right man for the moment.”
- Transgender troops to be kicked out. A Feb. 26 Pentagon memo has ordered that troops with a current diagnosis or symptoms of gender dysphoria will be separated unless they receive a waiver. The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota defines gender dysphoria as “a feeling of distress that can happen when a person’s gender identity differs from the sex assigned at birth.” The Pentagon memo, which was released on Wednesday as part of a lawsuit filed by transgender service members and veterans, says that waivers will be issued on a case-by-case basis to transgender troops who can demonstrate “a compelling Government interest” that allowing them to stay in the military “directly supports warfighting capabilities.”
- Supreme Court refuses to revisit the Feres Doctrine. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the 75-year-old rule that prevents service members from suing the government for malpractice by military doctors. The Feres Doctrine, named for the Supreme Court’s 1950 Feres v. United States decision, bars service members from suing the Department of Defense for negligence or wrongdoing. Troops and their families can file medical malpractice claims with the military under certain conditions. Staff Sgt. Ryan G. Carter, a Maryland Air National Guardsman who was paralyzed when military doctors botched his 2018 back surgery, had asked the Supreme Court to reconsider the Feres Doctrine, but on Monday the court announced that it had decided not to hear his case. In his blistering dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote: “Courts arbitrarily deprive injured servicemembers and their families of a remedy that Congress provided them. As I have said before, we should fix the mess that we have made.”
- North Korea sends reinforcements to Russia. It looks like North Korea is deploying more of its soldiers to Russia to take part in the meat grinder of a war against Ukraine. South Korea’s intelligence agency is trying to figure out how many more North Korean troops are headed to Russia to join the 10,000 to 12,000 who arrived there last year and have been fighting against the Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. It is unclear how long it will take the newest batch of reinforcements to discover the internet.
Thank you for reading. See you next Friday!
Jeff Schogol