00:00Mr. Secretary, you recently fired the Army Chief Staff, General Randy George, who's one of the most distinguished and decorated
00:07officers of his generation.
00:09General George's nomination came before us. We reviewed it thoroughly and we concurred.
00:17Why did you fire General George?
00:21Well, as I did then and I'll say now, we thank General George for his service.
00:27And out of respect to him and other officers, we never talk about the nature of why certain officers are
00:33asked to step down.
00:35But we all serve at the pleasure of the president.
00:37And ultimately, my view in coming into this department, as I stated in my confirmation hearing, was to change the
00:44culture of the department.
00:46And it's ultimately challenging to change the department, the culture of a department with the same people who are a
00:52part of or in that department.
00:53So I have made many changes with general officers.
00:56We will continue to make changes as necessary with general officers.
01:00And they will be in keeping with the trajectory of where we would like to take the department.
01:04But it doesn't take away from the service of those.
01:06And I think you will note that every officer that's been asked to leave has been treated with respect.
01:14Interesting.
01:16Of the two dozen officers that you have fired for reasons unrelated to performance, since you have not indicated any
01:24cores, 60% are black or females.
01:28Now, did the president direct you to single out female and black officers to be dismissed?
01:37Senator, of course not.
01:39And as we've emphasized at this department from the beginning, the only metric is merit.
01:46Members on this committee and the previous leadership of this department were focused on social engineering, race and gender in
01:54ways that we think were unhealthy for the department.
01:56Focusing on those things, making decisions based on those things.
01:59In President Trump's War Department, we make decisions based on only one thing, merit.
02:04And that's how we've made decisions going forward.
02:07That's how we've made them.
02:07And that's how we'll make them going forward.
02:08Well, let me go back to General George.
02:11What did he fail in terms of his lack of merit to continue serving?
02:18As I've said, I don't talk about the nature of dismissal.
02:21Out of respect for these officers.
02:23But ultimately, we want to take the department in a particular direction, certain services in a particular direction.
02:29And we want leadership that's running as fast in that direction as possible.
02:32And in some cases, we make changes accordingly.
02:35But do so out of respect to those officers.
02:37Well, I think that direction from your behavior is an intense interest in Christianity, in nationalism, and in not recognizing
02:52the talents of women and non-white gentlemen.
02:57And that's the wrong direction.
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