The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has revoked the security clearance and personal security detail for Mark Milley, a retired decorated army general and former chair of the joint chiefs of staff who served under the first Trump administration but went on to criticise him.
Hegseth also directed the defence department’s inspectorate general to determine whether it is appropriate to reopen an assessment of Milley’s military grade, the Pentagon said late on Tuesday.
Joe Kasper, sworn in under Trump as defense department chief of staff, said in a statement: “Undermining the chain of command is corrosive to our national security.”
The news was first reported by Fox News on Tuesday. Representatives for Milley could not be immediately reached.
Milley is one of several high-profile figures to be punished for speaking out against him.
The new administration has also revoked the security protection for former Trump secretary of state Mike Pompeo, former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, former Trump special envoy on Iran Brian Hook and Anthony Fauci, former longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Milley was among those to whom Joe Biden issued pre-emptive pardons on 20 January, his last day in office, in case Trump tried to take revenge on them.
Milley called Trump a fascist and detailed Trump’s conduct around the Capitol insurrection.
Milley has said he was grateful for the pardon by Biden, who said Milley and others “do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions”.
Trump had once suggested Milley should be executed for holding back-channel talks with China. Milley’s photo was removed from the Pentagon shortly after Trump was sworn into office.
The second and last portrait of Milley would also be removed from the Pentagon, Fox News reported.
