WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses Plans to deal with Hundreds of US military personnel Direct On Tuesday, the Pentagon suddenly asked top commanders around the world to convene at a Virginia base without publicly revealing why.
The gathering at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico near Washington encouraged fierce speculation about the purpose and value of summoning such numerous generals and admirals to one place.
The meeting between top military brass and civilian leaders is nothing new. However, experts say the size of the meeting, the rush it was called, and the mystery surrounding it is particularly unusual.
“It’s completely rational, because of the concept that the secretary is trying to talk to the general and give them a vision to run the department, and perhaps because of the strategy and organization,” said Mark Kansian, a senior advisor to the Center for Strategy and International Studies and a retired Marine.
“The mystical is why it’s such a short notice, why it’s directly, what else does it have to do with it,” he said.
Uncertainty occurs as a country faces possibilities Government closure This week, and as Hegseth, focusing on lethality and what he calls “warrior spirit,” he took some extraordinary and inexplicable behavior. Order cut The number of general officers Other top military leaders fired fire.
News about Suddenly scheduled meeting Breaking it on Thursday, Pentagon top spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed it but refused to release any further details.
Trump appears to have no idea about it when asked by a reporter during an appearance in the Oval Office later that day. The Republican president said, “If they wanted me, they would be there, but why is that such a big deal?”
White House officials said Trump also spoke at the rally on Sunday. president Told to NBC News He and Hegses will “talk about how well we are doing military-wise, talking about what is in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things.”
Vice President JD Vance last week claimed that the media turned it into a “big story” and that “generals reporting are not particularly unusual.”
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Cabo Dragone, chairman of NATO’s military committee, described the meeting as unusual, told reporters on Saturday after the NATO meeting in Riga, Latvia.
Without further information, many observers in Washington have come to speculate about the conference’s focus. Whatever that may be, Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings facility said he suspects there are dramatic elements “as important as substantive elements.”
“I wonder what meaningful interactions happen on pure scale alone,” said O’Hanlon, director of foreign policy studies at Brookings. “So it slams more theatre and the attempt to impose than trying to exchange opinions.”
Brian Clark, senior fellow and director of the Hudson Institute’s Defense Concept Technology Center, said he hopes the meeting will focus on changing the Trump administration’s defense policy. The US military is expected to focus on Europe and Asia, and the Northern Hemisphere.
Hegseth has defended the role of the military Securing the US-Mexico borderExpanded in American cities as part of Trump’s Law Enforcement Surgeand then execute Being attacked by a boat in the Caribbean The administration calls it a target drug trafficker.
“I think they are trying to set the tone and set the context so that these generals and admirals say the strategies we came out are very different from what you’re used to.
Video conferencing around the world is challenging because leaders are spread across time zones, Clark said. Force them to attend meetings in person and you can dig into the points.
“That’s a way to demonstrate,” Clark said.
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Associated Press Writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.
