Frank Kendall, who served as US Secretary of the Air Force from July 2021 to January 2025, spent three days at the start of September 2026 making the same argument in three places: an opinion piece in The New York Times on 1 September, an interview on PBS NewsHour the same evening, and an appearance on CNN on 2 September.

Asked on CNN to characterise the current Pentagon, he answered in five words. The Defense Department — which the Trump administration has rebranded the Department of War by executive order — rejected the characterisation the following day.

This article sets out what Kendall said, what the department said in reply, and what can be independently established about the events he cites.

What Kendall said

“In a word, it’s dysfunctional.”

Frank Kendall — Secretary of the Air Force, 2021–2025, speaking on CNN, 2 September 2026

His central factual claim concerns personnel. On CNN he referred to “all the firings of general officers, about 25 now, I think, removing people from promotion lists”, and called both practices unprecedented. On PBS he put it as “a very large number, I think over two dozen, senior officers in particular have been removed without cause”.

On the promotion lists specifically, he said on PBS: “There are also reports that he’s taking people off of promotion lists. That’s unheard of. In my tenure as secretary of the Air Force, that never happened.” On CNN he added that among those removed, “there are a lot of women and minorities being pulled off of those lists.”

His second theme is the effect on advice. “The climate of fear that’s been created is very palpable,” he said on CNN. “It’s affecting the quality of advice that’s being given. People are afraid to say something that’s not going to be approved of.” He said he had recently spoken to serving officers questioning whether to remain in the service.

The op-ed aimed at serving leadership rather than at the secretary. Describing a military retirement ceremony he attended, Kendall wrote that it was “eerily, even alarmingly normal”, with a room full of senior officers “playing the same game of ‘Let’s pretend everything is fine.’” He called denial “a cop-out” that “is putting our democracy at risk”.

He also raised two policy matters. He described the US–Iran war, six months old at the time of writing, in unfavourable terms, saying the country went in “with very poor assumptions about how it will play out”. And on PBS he called strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats “nonjudicial killings”, adding: “They’re executions, essentially. We’re not at war with drug dealers.”

Kendall did not raise the Signal messaging episode, the department’s renaming, or press access in these three appearances.

What the department said

The Hill obtained a response from Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell for its report on Kendall’s remarks. Parnell rejected the premise directly.

On the personnel changes that form the core of Kendall’s complaint, Parnell offered a different reading of the same facts: “This is what reform looks like. Leading an enterprise of this scale requires bold leadership, accountability and placing the right personnel in the right places.” He said the department operates on a “next man up” mentality and is “firing on all cylinders” under Hegseth’s leadership. In a separate CNN segment he was quoted saying “The entire department is unified behind Secretary Hegseth’s vision.”

Parnell has also disputed related reporting, calling it “a total fabrication” to claim Hegseth is not focused on modernisation, describing formal objections from generals as “standard”, and rejecting reporting of munitions shortages as false.

We could not find a Pentagon or Hegseth statement responding to Frank Kendall by name. The statements above are the department’s response to this line of criticism, given to The Hill in the context of the Kendall story.

President Trump has publicly backed the secretary. Asked in the Oval Office on 31 August 2026 about a possible Hegseth presidential run in 2028, he said: “I think he’s doing a fantastic job, but it’s very early to talk about that.”

There is also a defence from inside the building. Dan Driscoll, who resigned as Army Secretary on 31 August 2026 effective 3 September, wrote of his own tenure that “We could not have made the progress we did without the support of Secretary Hegseth” — a statement that sits against reporting that he left after clashes with Hegseth.

What can be independently established

On the numbers Kendall cites, outside reporting broadly corroborates the scale. The Washington Post has counted more than two dozen top officers dismissed, and Hegseth has remade nearly the whole Joint Chiefs; by Axios’ account only the Marine Corps and Space Force chiefs he inherited remain in post. The New York Times has reported that Hegseth personally removed at least 45 officers from promotion lists during 2026. NBC News reported on 1 September that more than a dozen Black, Hispanic or female officers had been blocked. The Hill reported four Army officers — two women and two Black men — pulled from a one-star list, and at least six more from a two-star list.

Hegseth and his allies have said the department does not consider gender or skin colour when weighing promotions.

Some surrounding facts are not in dispute. Hegseth remains in office, having served nearly twenty months. Army Secretary Driscoll resigned on 31 August. The Army currently has no Senate-confirmed civilian or uniformed leader, its chief Gen. Randy George having been dismissed earlier in 2026. The Pentagon has not held a formal press briefing since 5 May 2026.

The context on both sides

Kendall is not the only former official making this argument. Leon Panetta, Defense Secretary from 2011 to 2013, told CNN on 3 September that Hegseth “is undermining the strength of our military, and particularly the Army, by creating the kind of turmoil in the command structure that he’s been creating”. Asked whether he had seen anything comparable before, he answered: “Never, never.”

Criticism has come from Republicans too. Senator Thom Tillis called on the president to dismiss Hegseth on 2 September, writing that he had “never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country”. Representative Don Bacon said on CNN the same day that he agreed with Tillis’ sentiments and that Hegseth “would not be on my team”. Asked about Bacon’s remarks, the Pentagon had no comment.

Two things cut the other way on Kendall himself, and both are worth stating. He is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, and a registered Democrat. And on 7 August 2026 the department revoked his security clearance.

Parnell said at the time that the action followed Kendall’s “unauthorized disclosure of classified information regarding Air Force One’s capabilities to a media outlet”, a reference to a July 2026 New York Times story in which Kendall discussed the Qatari-gifted aircraft intended to replace Air Force One. Kendall has said he will sue to have the clearance restored. Readers can weigh for themselves whether that history sharpens his criticism or explains it.

Beyond Parnell, the president and Driscoll, we found no named former senior defence official publicly defending the department’s direction during this news cycle. That absence is itself a fact, and not the same as agreement.

Sources: The Hill (3 September 2026); PBS NewsHour transcript (1 September 2026); CNN “The Source” transcript (2 September 2026); The New York Times opinion (1 September 2026); Axios; Washington Post; NBC News; Mediaite; Time. CNN’s transcript is published as a rush transcript and its wording differs slightly from The Hill’s rendering in places; quotations above use wording common to both where possible.