In the month since Secretary of War Pete Hegseth vowed to crack down on internal comments celebrating the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, almost 300 investigations have been opened, according to a new report.
Per The Washington Post, online comments disparaging the conservative commentator from service members, contractors, and civilian employees have been investigated.
The Washington Post said the investigations resulted in “a smattering of disciplinary action so far.”
The day after Kirk was killed, Hegseth indicated the Department of War was taking celebrations of his assassination seriously.
“We are tracking all these very closely — and will address, immediately. Completely unacceptable,” he wrote then in a post on X.
Hegseth’s post came in response to a post from Pentagon representative Sean Parnell, who wrote that it was “unacceptable for military personnel and Department of War civilians to celebrate or mock the assassination of a fellow American. The Department of War has zero tolerance for it.”
We are tracking all these very closely — and will address, immediately. Completely unacceptable. https://t.co/9weALT5Pb7
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) September 11, 2025
Parnell told the Washington Post that, “Those in our ranks who rejoice at an act of domestic terrorism are unfit to serve the American people.”
“It’s a violation of the oath, it’s conduct unbecoming, it’s a betrayal of the Americans they’ve sworn to protect & dangerously incompatible with military service,” he said last month on social media.
The Washington Post said based on documents it had seen, 128 service members were investigated, with 26 receiving administrative reprimands, through Sept. 30.
Three received “nonjudicial punishment,” which can foreshadow a loss of rank or other punishment, while three more are leaving the service, either voluntarily or otherwise.
The Washington Post said 158 non-uniformed personnel, including 27 civilians working for the War Department, were investigated through Sept. 30. Two were “removed from employment.” Five former War Department employees are under investigation.
Peter Feaver, who studies civil-military relations at Duke University, said Hegseth’s crackdown meshes with efforts to keep politics out of the military workplace.
“They have a valid point,” he said.
In an address to commanders last month, Hegseth doubled down on that point.
“This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department, to rip out the politics. No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris,” he said then according to a text of his comments posted online.
“The military has been forced by foolish and reckless politicians to focus on the wrong things,” Hegseth said then, adding, he was “fixing decades of decay, some of it obvious, some of it hidden, or as the chairman has put it, we are clearing out the debris, removing the distractions, clearing the way for leaders to be leaders. You might say we’re ending the war on warriors.”
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