There were plenty of problems with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ridiculous speech to the nation’s generals and admirals, but one of the key areas of concern was the beleaguered Pentagon chief’s vision for how the DOD would operate in the coming months and years.
As The Washington Post reported, “Hegseth said he will overhaul the military channels that allow troops and defense personnel to file whistleblower complaints, report toxic leadership or point out discrimination based on race, gender, sexuality or religion.”
Referring to the Pentagon’s inspector general’s office, the secretary told military leaders, “The [Defense Department’s internal watchdog] has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues and poor performers in the driver’s seat.” (Hegseth neglected to mention that he’s facing an ongoing investigation from the DOD inspector general.)
What the former Fox News host was describing was a new model in which military personnel who see wrongdoing, waste or mismanagement — people Hegseth described as “complainers” — will find it more difficult to blow the whistle and have their concerns addressed.
But making matters far worse is that this offensive isn’t limited to the Pentagon. The New York Times reported:
The White House last week informed a federal office charged with conducting oversight of the Trump administration that it was blocking congressionally approved money for its operations for the coming fiscal year, effectively shuttering it after midnight on Tuesday. The blocked funds are not linked to the funding showdown between congressional Democrats and Republicans that could prompt a government shutdown at the same time.
At issue is something called the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, the umbrella organization for 72 inspectors general across the federal government. Congress had already agreed to fund the office, but Team Trump decided last week that it no longer cared what Congress did, moving instead to defund the council.
If this sounds at all familiar, it’s because this is the latest in a series of such steps against IGs. Indeed, on the fifth night of his second term, Donald Trump executed his first Friday Night News Dump of 2025, firing at least 18 inspectors general who were responsible for rooting out corruption, ethical lapses and mismanagement in federal agencies throughout the government.
The president did not appear to have the legal authority to take such steps, but the Republican did it anyway. Nearly nine months later, the White House is going even further to gut IG offices. As for the motivation behind the moves, nothing about this is subtle: Inspectors general exist as instruments of accountability. They identify wrongdoing. That’s precisely why Trump and his team have come to see them as obstacles and enemies. The good news is that a handful of congressional Republicans, including Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Susan Collins of Maine, quickly expressed their disapproval and wrote to Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, “urgently request[ing] an explanation” of a decision they said would “disrupt numerous important oversight functions.” The bad news is that Collins and Grassley have written similar requests to the Trump administration for months, and the GOP senators’ efforts have amounted to nothing.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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