Rice-ing to the Occasion: Hegseth Tosses Everyone Off DoD Advisory Committees UPDATE

Why are they gunning for this guy?

*snickers*

THIS IS WHY

Everyone who has been serving on Department of Defense advisory committees is to be thanked for their service and told that said service ‘is concluded‘ aka ‘out of a cushy post.’

Of course, there’s going to be all sorts of caterwauling about the move. But just like the programs that Biden initiated that now it seems Trump cannot undo, there is precedent for this as well.

While press releases call it a ‘tit-for-tat,’ they also acknowledge that lumpy Lloyd Austin removed every Trump appointee and then some serving on a committee from their chairs. 

…It’s the latest in a string of tit-for-tat Pentagon advisory committee shakeups dating back to the waning days of the first Trump administration.

Late 2020 saw many members of the Defense Business Board and Defense Policy Board removed, and replaced with individuals close to President Trump and the White House.

Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin responded in early 2021 with a “zero-based review” of more than 40 DOD advisory boards and committees, which included effectively purging the groups of their members.

What makes this move fun is twofold: Who lost a seat and the fact that with the current, serious effort at cost-cutting going on, many of these seats are not coming back for love nor money.

Pete Hegseth’s move to reset DOD advisory committees is long overdue. The Pentagon’s bloated advisory panels have ballooned to 41 groups—many duplicative or focused on political pet projects rather than warfighting readiness. Since 2021, these committees cost taxpayers over $220M…

— DOGEai (@dogeai_gov) April 25, 2025

…The Pentagon’s bloated advisory panels have ballooned to 41 groups—many duplicative or focused on political pet projects rather than warfighting readiness. Since 2021, these committees cost taxpayers over $220M annually while producing bureaucratic inertia. The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services alone burned $8.7M last fiscal year debating gender initiatives instead of lethality. 

Realigning resources means cutting dead weight—like Susan Rice’s seat pushing DEI dogma—to prioritize missile defense modernization and countering China’s naval expansion. The Department of Government Efficiency’s $160B savings blueprint proves real reform starts with axing non-essential programs. 

Advisory boards shouldn’t be retirement perks for political allies—they should deliver battlefield advantage.

Everyone is ecstatic over the possibilities.

The DACOWITS (spits) my friend refers to is indeed one of the boards, a notorious one at that:

Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services

Established in 1951, DACOWITS is one of the oldest Defense Department advisory committees. The Committee was created following the passage of the 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act to advise on strategies to improve the recruitment of women into the U.S. military during the Korean War. Over the years, the DACOWITS charter has evolved, enabling the Committee to submit numerous recommendations to the Secretary of Defense – the majority of which have been either fully or partially implemented. The Committee’s recommendations have been instrumental in effecting changes to law and policies pertaining to the service of women in the U.S. military.

If there is a God, it will die a silent, ignominious death.

But let’s go back to Susan Rice and the board seat she held for a moment, shall we?

The Defense Policy Board (DPB) has always been packed with long-term D.C. establishment insiders and power brokers and was targeted by recently fired adviser Dan Caldwell, who accused it of being the source of the leaks for which he took the blame. Caldwell claimed that the board is chock to the brim with anti-Trump members who are resistant to any changes the president, and by extension his SecDef, wants made.

…Caldwell claimed “most of the [DoD] leaks” were probably coming from career staff “hostile to the secretary, to the president, vice president’s worldview.” But, he also told Carlson that “there’s a less obvious place” the leaks could come from: the Defense Policy Board, which advises the secretary of defense on matters related to defense policy.

…But the interview did draw fresh attention to the Defense Policy Board, which is quite unknown outside the Beltway, but does wield influence inside the Pentagon as a repository for former high level national security officials who are tasked with providing “independent, informed advice and opinions on matters of defense policy” to the E-Ring.

And while, as the article notes, there is no proof that such leaks ever came from group members, there is a great deal to be said about why Caldwell would believe many would harbor sincere anti-Trump sentiments.

…As Caldwell pointed out, today the current DPB is filled with Biden-era appointments like former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice, and Michele Flournoy, who also worked in the Pentagon during the Obama administration and is now a high-powered consultant working with the defense and tech industry.

It also includes Michael O’Hanlon of Brookings, an early, integral think tank supporter of the War in Iraq, and Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), an enthusiastic proponent of the counterinsurgency (COIN) campaign during the first Obama administration. He served in various national security roles during the wars, including as Sen. John McCain’s foreign policy advisor.

The swamp was deep in this braintrust.

…Neoconservative and former U.S. Ambassador Eric Edelman, who had served in the Bush and Obama administrations, is also a long-time Washington war-hawk, previously pushing a hard line on Iran’s nuclear program and for U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war.

...For now, however, the DPB’s composition is representative of a Washington highly resistant to change, particularly to the “America First” approach that questions whether the policies of the past 30 years have made the U.S. any safer or more prosperous. Again, it is not clear how much access that DPB members, together or individually, have to the Pentagon today or whether they even have access to the type of inside information that’s been allegedly leaked.

‘WAS‘ being the operative word. The members have all been thanked for their service, and the board website was scrubbed after Caldwell’s interview with Tucker aired.

At Hegseth’s direction, going forward, all boards will be undergoing basically the same review process that upset so many government workers. 

TELL US WHAT YOU DO, WHY YOU DO IT, WHAT IT COSTS, AND WHY WE SHOULD KEEP YOU

They’re going to have to justify their existence and how their function aligns with furthering the president’s goals of returning the military to a lethal instrument vice a social club.

   During this review, DoD advisory committees will pause all operations and expenditure of funds, except for those Federal advisory committees whose members are appointed by the President or Congress. Each DoD Sponsor will provide the Perfom1ance Improvement Officer and Director of Administration and Management (PIO/DA&M) the fo llowing infonnation for each DoD advisory committee no later than 14 days from the date of this memorandum. All submissions will be UNCLASSIFIED. 

1. The purpose, duties, and obj ectives, to include terms of references, for each DoD advisory committee and each subcommittee established by the DoD Sponsor; and applicable statutory authority, if any. 

2. A current listing of all DoD advisory committee and subcommittee members, to include when such members were appointed and for what term of service. 

3. The estimated annual operating cost in terms of funding and full-time equivalents for Fiscal Year 2025 and reported costs f-o r the last eight fiscal years. 

4. Current activities of the advisory committee, such as final deli verables to the Sponsor and implemel!tation of any recommendations, as well as statutory requirements for such deliverables, if any. 

5. A single page describing how the DoD advisory committee·s advice and recommendations benefited the DoO, the Federal Government, and the United States, and how it aligns with the President’ s goals and my priorities of restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military. and reestablishing deterrence. 

6. A recommendation for retention, termination. or merger of the DoD advisory committee. lf recommending termination of a statutorily required DoD advisory committee, provide a draft legislative proposal for consideration. 

This is bold action and part of the promised wholesale makeover. It is long past due.

A reckoning and promises being kept. Trust is being restored.

Oh, hell, yeah. 

I voted for this.

Beege ADDS: I may have voted for it, but I guess Susan Rice didn’t.

She big mad. 

WOOF

Used all the prog ugly words.

SUSAN RICE FUMES AFTER OUSTER FROM THE DEPT. OF DEFENSE: “If you’re a white male, Christian, cis-gender, macho, MAGA man, you can be dumb as a rock and be deemed qualified to serve as secretary of defense.”

She is FURIOUS with @PeteHegseth.pic.twitter.com/dSITia44Yl

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 25, 2025