WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump will on Tuesday speak at a rare gathering of hundreds of senior US military officers summoned, without public explanation, from around the world to meet at a base near Washington.
No official reason has been given for the highly unusual meeting at Quantico.
It comes as the military has faced controversy both at home and abroad, with Trump deploying troops in two Democratic-run US cities and ordering lethal strikes on small, alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.
Trump, who oversaw a rare purge of senior officers after taking office, has also ordered strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and Tehran-backed Yemeni rebels.
The White House’s daily press guidance lists the 79-year-old Republican as delivering “remarks to the Department of War” at 9:00 am (1300 GMT).
The US president hailed the meeting when asked about it last week, saying in the Oval Office: “I love it. I mean, I think it’s great.”
“Let him be friendly with the generals and admirals from all over the world,” the president said, referring to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who organized the event and will speak there.
Amid speculation over reasons for gathering all the top brass in one place, Vice President JD Vance insisted it was “actually not unusual at all,” and told reporters “it’s odd that you guys have made it into such a big story.”
The Pentagon has not given a public explanation for the session, with spokesman Sean Parnell only saying in a statement that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week.”
- Shakeups at Pentagon -
It will reportedly bring together officers in command positions with one-star rank and above — pulling a large number of personnel in key roles from their duties around the world.
But the lack of clarity has fed speculation that a major announcement will be made.
In May, Hegseth ordered major cuts to the number of general and flag officers in the US military, including at least a 20 percent reduction in the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals.
That came after the Pentagon announced in February that it aimed to reduce the number of its civilian employees by at least five percent.
Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has also purged top officers, including chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff general Charles “CQ” Brown, whom he fired without explanation in February.
Other senior officers dismissed this year include the heads of the Navy and Coast Guard, the leaders of the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, a Navy admiral assigned to NATO, and three top military lawyers.
US forces meanwhile carried out a nearly two month-long campaign of strikes targeting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels earlier this year and also hit three nuclear sites that were a key part of Tehran’s nuclear program.
And US troops have been deployed in Los Angeles and Washington, DC — allegedly to combat civil unrest and crime — while similar moves are planned for Portland, Memphis and potentially other American cities.
