Top military officials said they were alarmed after the defense secretary demanded an all-hands meeting
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has issued urgent orders for 800 generals and admirals in the U.S. military worldwide to a meeting at a Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, on short notice and without a stated reason, The first reported.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the orders were issued earlier this week and have caused alarm and confusion among the nation’s top brass. The orders, highly unusual in their own right, come in the midst of a looming government shutdown and on the heels of the Trump administration attempting to rename the Department of Defense the “Department of War.”
Pentagon spokesman and senior Hegseth adviser, Sean Parnell, said in a statement released Thursday that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week,” but offered no further details. Among the commanders expected to be at the gathering are those currently in active war zones and diplomatically sensitive areas, such as the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
“People are very concerned. They have no idea what it means,” one person familiar with the orders told the Post.
Others expressed frustration and noted that military preparedness could be compromised by the meeting.
“It will make the commands just diminished if something pops up,” a defense official said.
Another person took issue with the sudden ordering of hundreds of high-ranking officials to one location, saying this is “not how it is done.”
The New York Times also reported that the order has been given, reporting that it “has stirred anxiety among the military’s top ranks.”
Since his confirmation earlier this year, Hegseth has been at the helm of dramatic changes at the Pentagon. In April, Hegseth oversaw a “DEI purge” at the U.S. Naval Academy, leading to controversial book bans there.
In May, Hegseth issued a directive to remove 100 generals and admirals from their positions. Following this, Hegseth called for a 20% cut of four-star generals in active service and in the National Guard. In June, he ordered the Navy to rename one its ships, which bore the name of an assassinated gay rights activist and Navy veteran, Harvey Milk.

RED LION, Pa. (AP) — Three Pennsylvania detectives shot to death last week while attempting to arrest a stalking suspect were remembered at their funeral…
Three Pennsylvania detectives shot to death last week while attempting to arrest a stalking suspect were remembered at their funeral Thursday as exemplary officers and devoted family men.
The service for Northern York County Regional Police detectives Cody Michael Becker, Mark Edward Baker and Isaiah Emenheiser was held more than a week after they were ambushed by a man who had been inside the home of a woman he was accused of stalking.
“They were gentle, they were kind,” Northern Regional Chief David L. Lash recalled in a eulogy. “They confronted some of the most evil human behaviors imaginable. And not only did they face those challenges, they did so while holding fast to faith, compassion and uncompromising honor.”
Hundreds of police officers were on hand to mourn them at Living Word Community Church in Red Lion in southeastern Pennsylvania after a motorcade brought their flag-draped caskets from a funeral home.
Lash called the three “the best of us. Their sacrifice is a solemn reminder of the cost of service but also the courage required to stand in the face of darkness.”
Autopsy results released this week indicated that all three officers died of multiple gunshot wounds.
A prosecutor said the stalking suspect, 24-year-old Matthew James Ruth, fired on the officers as they opened the door to the woman’s home. Two other officers were seriously wounded. York County District Attorney Tim Barker said he believes Ruth, who died in an exchange of gunfire, had planned to ambush the woman he was accused of stalking.
Becker, 39, a resident of Spring Grove, had been a star multisport athlete in high school. Baker, 53, who lived in Dover, was a computer forensics investigation specialist. Emenheiser, 43, of York, was called a perfectionist with dreams of opening a gym.
Becker served as sergeant of detectives and had been on the Northern Regional force for 16 years. His obituary recounted how in 2010 he climbed to the second story of a burning building to catch children who were escaping through a window. He is survived by a wife and two children. A second service, a public funeral for Becker, will be held Sunday at Spring Grove Area High School in Spring Grove.
“Cody, I looked up to you,” said Northern Regional Cpl. Steven Lebo during Thursday’s service, calling Becker his best friend. “I envied you, I wanted nothing more than to retire together when our time at Northern Regional was complete.”
Baker, a U.S. Army veteran, spent three years with the Philadelphia Police Department before he joined Northern Regional in 2004, first as a patrol officer and then in computer forensics. He had been a detective for 15 years. He was an Eagle Scout and an adult Scouting leader. Survivors include a wife and four children; a fifth child predeceased him.
His daughter, Rebecca Lynn Baker, called him courageous, fearless, kind and compassionate, a devoted father who once showed up in pajamas when she ran out of gasoline late at night coming home from a beach trip.
“As important and prominent as his career was, his love for his family could not be touched,” she said, adding that he “took great pride in helping wherever and whenever he could.”
Emenheiser was a York College criminal justice graduate and served in the U.S. Secret Service before being hired by Northern Regional. He made 104 DUI arrests in 2010 and was named officer of the year, among other professional honors over two decades with the department.
In 2005, Emenheiser broke a window in a burning mobile home in Thomasville and carried a man to safety. Emenheiser’s interests included fitness, home renovations and coaching youth soccer. His surviving family includes a wife and two children.
Northern Regional Sgt. Andrew Miller told mourners how Emenheiser made a point to help mentor him while Miller was an intern. He got to know Emenheiser even better while when they worked overnight shifts together.
“To see someone come to work every day and perform to the best of their abilities, year after year after year, is truly amazing,” Miller recalled.
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Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
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