US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is under growing pressure over his leadership of the Pentagon, with Republican Senator Thom Tillis this week calling on President Donald Trump to remove him, citing a "leadership void" and what he described as the most "inept management" of military personnel he had ever witnessed. Hegseth, a former Fox News host confirmed to the role in January 2025, has overseen a sweeping turnover of senior military officials — including the firing of several top commanders and the blocking of dozens of promotion candidates — while pursuing an aggressive "maximum lethality" warfare doctrine that has drawn legal scrutiny over boat strikes in the Caribbean that have killed 227 people and over civilian casualties during the ongoing US war on Iran. His tenure has also been marked by a classified-information leak via the Signal messaging app, restrictions on press freedom at the Pentagon, and a record $1.5 trillion defence budget request for fiscal year 2027.