Pentagon Revokes Gen. Mark Milley’s Security Clearance, Pulls Security Detail

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley testifies in Washington on May 3, 2022. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) officials have revoked the security clearance of retired Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who served as the nation’s highest-ranking military officer during President Donald Trump’s first term, the Pentagon said on Jan. 28.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth informed Milley on Jan. 28 that he was revoking the authorization for his security detail and suspending his security clearance, a spokesman for the Pentagon told news outlets.

“The Secretary has also directed the DOD IG to conduct an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding Gen. Milley’s conduct so that the Secretary may determine whether it is appropriate to reopen his military grade review determination,” the spokesman said.

A spokesperson for the DOD inspector general’s office told The Epoch Times that the office has received Hegseth’s request and is reviewing it.

Milley did not immediately respond to an inquiry.

Joe Kasper, the chief of staff for Hegseth, said the actions were taken because “undermining the chain of command is corrosive to our national security, and restoring accountability is a priority for the Defense Department under President Trump’s leadership.”

Milley, 66, was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 2019 until September 2023. Trump nominated him to the post.

Milley has faced criticism for telling a Chinese general that the United States was not going to attack China, a move Trump has said was treasonous. Milley also told troops at his retirement ceremony, “We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”

“We don’t take an oath to an individual,” he said. “We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”

Trump previously removed Milley from an advisory committee.

Milley has protection against criminal charges for his actions because President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon to him earlier this year.

“General Milley served our nation for more than 40 years, serving in multiple command and leadership posts and deploying to some of the most dangerous parts of the world to protect and defend democracy,” Biden said at the time. “As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he guided our Armed Forces through complex global security threats and strengthened our existing alliances while forging new ones.”

Milley said previously that he was grateful for the pardon.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve our great country in uniform for over four decades, and I will continue to keep faith and loyalty to our nation and Constitution until my dying breath,” he said.

Trump, after being sworn in, removed the security details for several other people, including John Bolton, who served as his national security adviser.

Some Republicans over the weekend asked Trump to reassess the situation, saying the people who no longer have protection face danger in part because of their roles in the killing of Iranian official Qasem Soleimani.

“The threat to anyone involved in President Trump’s strike on Qasem Soleimani is persistent,“ Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said. ”It’s real.”

Trump has said that protection is not for life.

“Do you want to have a large detail of people guarding people for the rest of their lives? I mean, there’s risks to everything,” he told reporters recently.

He later added that the people in question all made a lot of money and could hire their own security if they felt they were at risk.