Modern military communications equipment makes it rather easy for the Pentagon to interact with personnel stationed anywhere on the planet, a fact that made it all the more unusual when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent a curious invitation to U.S. military leaders abroad. The Washington Post reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered hundreds of the U.S. military’s generals and admirals to gather on short notice — and without a stated reason — at a Marine Corps base in Virginia next week, sowing confusion and alarm after the Trump administration’s firing of numerous senior leaders this year. The highly unusual directive was sent to virtually all of the military’s top commanders worldwide, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the matter.

According to the Post’s report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC, the beleaguered Pentagon chief and former Fox News host issued the directive earlier this week — and no one outside of Hegseth’s office seems to know why......

Around the same time, JD Vance added, “It’s actually not unusual at all.”

Trump: Isn't it nice that people are coming from all over the world to be with us?

Vance: It's actually not unusual at all, and I think it's odd that you guys have made it into such a big story

Trump: Is it a big story? Isn't it a good story?

— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) 2025-09-25T21:05:28.847193473Z

......The point about security concerns is of particular interest, since it’s an open question whether foreign adversaries or non-state actors might try to exploit the fact that every U.S. general and admiral on the planet is suddenly leaving their posts at the same time.

“It will make the commands just diminished if something pops up,” one defense official told the Post.

The president nevertheless asked reporters, “Isn’t it nice that people are coming from all over the world to be with us?” But that made it sound as if U.S. generals and admirals are tourists, eager for a trip to the nation’s capital because they want to hang out with Trump.

Reality appears to tell a very different kind of story.