Hegseth fired a top Pentagon official who worked as a spokesman for Mark Milley

Pete Hegseth fired Colonel Dave Butler from his position as chief of public affairs and senior adviser to the Army. It is another change as part of the Trump administration's efforts to revamp some top military positions at the Pentagon. In this case, Butler had served as chief spokesman for Mark Milley, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff between 2019 and 2023.

As reported by The Washington Post, the secretary of war ordered Dan Driscoll, military adviser to the secretary of the Army, to fire Butler. The order came shortly before Driscoll traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to resume dialogue on the Ukraine war.

"We greatly appreciate Col. Dave Butler’s lifetime of service in America’s Army and to our nation. Dave has been an integral part of the Army’s transformation efforts. He will be missed and I sincerely wish him tremendous success in his upcoming retirement after 28 years of service," Dan Driscoll, military adviser to the secretary of the Army, said of him in a dialogue with the Post.

According to the media outlet, Butler's name was positioned to receive a promotion, something that stalled in recent months. It's unclear whether his employment ties to Milley, who has been at odds with Donald Trump for years, played any role in the stalling. Butler even offered to withdraw his name from the promotion list.

"Officials familiar with the matter said that Butler’s name appeared on a list of about three dozen promotion-eligible Army officers that should have been sent to the White House for approval months ago. It appears his inclusion was among the reasons those promotions have been delayed. After Hegseth’s directive to Driscoll last week, these people said, Butler elected to submit his retirement paperwork rather than hold up his colleagues’ promotions," they noted.