A challenge to Hegseth's approach to war
James, who holds a doctorate in history and policy from Carnegie Mellon University, rejects the premise behind Hegseth's phrase "maximum lethality, not tepid legality." He argues that insufficient violence does not explain America's failure to achieve victory in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran.
Ukraine offers a different measure of military effectiveness, James writes: A force with many middle-aged soldiers has resisted a much larger Russian army while adapting to changes in warfare. In his view, physical toughness and what he describes as Hegseth's performative masculinity are no substitute for strategy.
James also challenges Hegseth's description of the military as "the real one percent," arguing against a warrior class separated from civilian society. He favors citizen-soldiers who serve reluctantly when needed and invokes Washington, Grant and Eisenhower as commanders who understood war's costs and limits. His assessment of Hegseth ends with a demand: "He needs to go."
Cuts to civilian protection
One focus of James's criticism is Hegseth's dismantling of much of the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Office despite commanders' objections. James cites Gen. Stanley McChrystal's account of "insurgent math" in Iraq and Afghanistan: Killing one noncombatant could create more than 10 additional combatants.
ProPublica reporting republished by Advocate.com describes how commanders responded when Hegseth sought their views in early 2025. His three options were a 65% staffing reduction, a small central office in Washington or elimination of the program. Nine commanders selected the staffing cut to retain as much of the effort as possible. Two others, whose commands handled the nuclear arsenal and cyber threats, rejected every option and requested that the full program remain.
By the start of U.S. attacks on Iran, staffing across the civilian protection program had fallen from slightly fewer than 200 people to about two dozen, including some part-time workers, ProPublica reported. Central Command had just one person left, although it had said that at least nine of its 16 staff members were necessary for the effort to function.
The reporting also detailed civilian casualties during the first major operation under Hegseth, the spring 2025 air campaign in Yemen. It left 153 civilians dead and 243 wounded; two strikes accounted for most of the deaths. The Pentagon confirmed those totals in its annual civilian-casualty report for 2025.
On the opening day of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, an American airstrike struck a school in Minab near the Strait of Hormuz. More than 100 children died, prompting international outrage. Early accounts of the U.S. investigation attributed the strike to outdated intelligence, but the investigation itself had not been released.
Press restrictions and a constitutional ruling
James links Hegseth's background as a television host to his concern with appearances. He cites Hegseth's exclusion of photographers from press conferences over photographs he considered unflattering, as well as restrictions barring conventional news outlets from much of the Pentagon after they refused to accept prior approval of their stories. James also writes that Hegseth fired journalists and the publisher connected to a Stars and Stripes report about problems aboard the long-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression reported that more than 30 news organizations rejected the Pentagon's new press rules. Among them were The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and Hegseth's former employer, Fox News. Dozens of reporters handed back their credentials and departed on Oct. 15, 2025; for some outlets, that ended decades of working inside the building.
Hegseth also went more than eight months without appearing at the Pentagon briefing-room podium. His appearances on June 26, 2025, and March 2, 2026, bookended that gap.
The New York Times challenged the policy in a lawsuit against Hegseth and the Defense Department. On March 20, 2026, Senior U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman held that the restrictions violated the First and Fifth Amendments. He found viewpoint discrimination and an intent to "chill" coverage the department regarded as unfavorable. His order blocked and vacated the challenged provisions and required the Pentagon to restore Times journalists' credentials.
Officer removals and conflicting personnel figures
James argues that Hegseth has brought partisan loyalty into an institution that should remain apolitical. He says Hegseth removed senior officers deemed insufficiently loyal to the president, many of them Black or female, as part of his campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion.
James contrasts Hegseth's assertion that "every officer serves at the pleasure of the president" with the military's promotion procedures. Promotion boards and military department secretaries handle promotions, he writes, while Pentagon rules restrict removal from promotion lists to specified moral, mental or professional deficiencies.
A separate question concerns Hegseth's claim to have reduced senior military leadership. At Marine Corps Base Quantico on Oct. 1, 2026, he announced a 20% cut in generals and admirals, describing it as "accountability." He presented the figure as a 10% reduction in officers combined with a 10% reduction in general-officer positions.
Yet Pentagon data showed the active-duty total increasing from 831 generals and admirals at the end of May 2025 to 851 at the end of July 2026, according to Free Malaysia Today. The department would not clarify whether the claimed 20% reduction had been completed or remained underway.
The canceled execution livestream
James also criticizes Hegseth's announcement that the Army would broadcast Nidal Hasan's execution by firing squad. Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 32 in the Fort Hood attack. James argues that publicizing the death of an attacker who sought martyrdom could serve terrorist recruitment rather than deterrence.
President Donald Trump canceled the livestream after public opposition. The BBC reported that the United Nations had called the broadcast plans "abhorrent" before Trump's decision.
The Pentagon's announcement set the execution for Dec. 3, 2026. It would be the first U.S. military execution in more than 60 years; the cancellation concerned the livestream, not the execution.
