But a day before the forum began, the officers’ staff got calls from the Pentagon telling them to stay away. On social media, Sean Parnell, the Defense Department’s top spokesperson, later made clear why: The forum,

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently shared a CNN video about the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a conservative Christian network of which he's a member. The video showed its pastors arguing women should not have the right to vote.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly has had “serious” discussions about running for governor in Tennessee, and he would have to surrender his Cabinet gig to do so.