Last Updated:July 15, 2025, 08:18 IST
The Aspen Security Forum, hosted annually by the Aspen Institute, is considered one of the nation’s premier gatherings on national security
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. (AP Image)
The US Department of Defence has abruptly pulled approximately a dozen high-ranking military officials from participating in this week’s Aspen Security Forum, citing the Aspen Institute’s alleged left-leaning political orientation and its inclusion of vocal critics of President Donald Trump, according to a report by Just The News.
Despite being listed on the event’s agenda, senior defence leaders, including the Secretary of the Navy and the Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, will no longer attend the event, a source confirmed to Just The News.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told the news website: “The Department of Defence has no interest in legitimizing an organization that has invited former officials who have been the architects of chaos abroad and failure at home.”
The Aspen Security Forum, hosted annually by the Aspen Institute — often dubbed “the mountain retreat for the liberal elite” — is considered one of the nation’s premier gatherings on national security and foreign policy. However, the Pentagon’s decision signals growing tensions between the Biden administration and the Trump-aligned Department of Defence.
Wilson further added, “They are antithetical to the America First values of this administration. Senior representatives of the Department of Defence will no longer be participating in an event that promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States.”
Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who was also scheduled to speak at the forum, has similarly pulled out.
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At the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit this weekend, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed the administration’s stance, stating the DoD under past Democratic leadership had been “distracted by experiments in left-wing ideology.”
The Pentagon’s withdrawal is being interpreted as a symbolic rejection of institutions perceived as hostile to Trump’s political platform, and a broader statement on where this administration intends to draw its ideological lines.
Covering day-to-day national and international news for the last nine years across print and digital. Associated with News18.com as Chief Sub-Editor since 2022, covering innumerable big and small events, including elections and budgets.