Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth noticed too many people were getting exemptions from his strict “no beards” crackdown while visiting a naval ship last month, CNN reported — and heads rolled over it.
The Pentagon chief, who styles himself Secretary of War due to a Trump executive order, “left the ship wondering if the Pentagon rank-and-file paid attention to his beard policy and other policy changes he has made to the workforce,” said the report. And soon after, department higher-ups “held a series of meetings in which they told subordinates that Hegseth was closely monitoring agencies’ progress on the beard policy and other workplace changes, and that there was pressure from political appointees to move faster on the directives.”
Beards have always been restricted in the military, but exceptions are made based on religious or medical reasons. Hegseth wants the number of those exceptions to be curtailed as much as possible.
The orders could significantly impact Black men, as they are particularly likely to suffer from pseudofolliculitis barbae, a painful condition where shaved hair “curls back into the skin,” the report noted. Per Hegseth’s orders, “commanders can kick out military personnel who require a shaving waiver after a year of medical treatment for PFB.”
In addition to the beard policy, Hegseth also pressed leaders on progress enforcing his changes to Equal Employment Opportunity law, which include “requirements that workplace complaints be dealt with in a timely manner and that the subject of a complaint be presumed innocent unless evidence showed otherwise.”
This comes as hostilities resume in full with Iran, with no end in sight and rising costs to taxpayers.