Trump changes the generals: the new war inside the Pentagon

Admiral Alvin Holsey, commander of the Southern Command with jurisdiction over Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, has announced his resignation at the end of the year, less than twelve months after his appointment. The decision comes during the escalation of operations against drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea, ordered by the Trump administration.

According to Pentagon sources, Holsey had expressed doubts about the legality of the missions that since last September have targeted Venezuelan vessels, killing 27 people. The operations were reportedly managed directly by the White House, bypassing the chain of command. “An alarming sign of instability,” commented Senator Jack Reed, Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Holsey's resignation is part of an unprecedented turnover: over a dozen generals and admirals have been fired or resigned since January 2025. Among them are General Charles Q. Brown Jr., Admiral Lisa Franchetti, and Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield. Many of the removed officers are women or belong to minorities, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has initiated a radical transformation: abolition of diversity programs, return to “male physical standards” and cuts of 20% to four-star generals.

Five former Defense Secretaries, from Perry to Mattis, have written to Congress denouncing the politicization of the Armed Forces. The risk, analysts emphasize, is that the Pentagon loses its role as an institutional check in foreign policy decisions, replaced by a leadership selected for political loyalty rather than competence.

So far, military leaders have represented a voice of caution on issues like Ukraine and Taiwan, but a leadership fearful of contradicting the White House could weaken that caution. Holsey's resignation thus appears as the symbol of a Pentagon reshaped on political criteria, where professional dissent risks being punished.

The real test will come with the first international crisis: only then will it be clear if this “new Pentagon” will truly be more efficient — or simply more obedient.