The Pentagon has removed a classified report from its internal computer network after senior military commanders used it to challenge Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's push to maintain over 50,000 troops on alert in the Middle East amid the ongoing Iran conflict. The commanders overseeing US forces in Europe, Asia and Latin America, along with the navy's top admiral, had formally objected to Hegseth's orders, with the dispute recorded in a classified document known as the Secretary of Defense Orders Book. The move has raised concerns among former officials that restricting access to such records could delay urgent military decisions, adding to wider turmoil surrounding Hegseth's leadership of the Pentagon.

The purge wiped decades of orders books from a portal on the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, and it remains unclear whether the material was relocated or is still accessible elsewhere; a Pentagon spokesman declined to explain the decision. Separately, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned after 18 months in the role, reportedly having warned President Trump directly that Hegseth's removal of senior generals, including General Randy George, was weakening the Army even as demands from the Iran war mounted. Six months into the conflict, which has far outlasted initial predictions of four to six weeks, 18 American service members have been killed and over 750 wounded, while the World Health Organization reports at least 3,375 Iranians killed and more than 33,000 injured.