So why might Secretary Hegseth do such an extraordinary thing? Only four solutions to the puzzle come to mind.

He has some trivial thing to say and does not understand the risks.

He wishes to endanger the lives of the generals and admirals.

He will stage a purge, perhaps involving a loyalty oath or something similar that requires personal presence.

He will tell the commanders that henceforth their assignment will be to oppress American citizens (“homeland defense”). This could be combined with the third scenario: those who refuse will be fired.

Perhaps others can think of other possibilities, but I am afraid that I cannot.

One might wonder why no effort was made to keep this secret. Perhaps Hegseth wants the senior officers to worry. Perhaps the news was shared because reasonable people in the Pentagon fear that the meeting is part of a plan to remake the American military as a domestic political police force. This would be in conjunction with other efforts, such as yesterday’s terror memo, to pursue regime change in the United States. Making known that there will be such a meeting is the one way to begin a conversation that might prevent its taking place, or at least alter its purpose.

——Timothy Snyder