Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the dismissal of Lisa Franchetti, Chief of Naval Operations, and James C. Slife, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force. He issued a statement requesting nominations to fill their vacated positions.

This story has been updated to reflect Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jim Kilby’s statement to the the Navy, released after this story was published. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.

Officials are pushing back on the notion that the Department of Defense has a "list" of flag officers that Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to fire.

The unprecedented firing of a half-dozen top generals and admirals is aimed at ensuring military obedience to unconstitutional and dictatorial orders.

"It's the beginning of a very, very serious degradation of the military and politicization of the military," he said.