As the US-Iran war risked reigniting in recent weeks, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded a Navy ship for what was supposed to be a routine visit with sailors.
The trip was marred by facial hair: Hegseth noticed multiple sailors sporting beards, apparently violating a stricter policy restricting beards in most instances that he issued last year, according to a defense official and emails seen by CNN referencing the defense secretary’s requests for action to be taken.
Hegseth 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.
Shortly after the visit in June, Pentagon officials 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.
“Want to bring to your attention that the SecWar is paying close attention to the progress of the EEO [Equal Employment Opportunity] reforms,” a Pentagon official focused on civilian personnel policy emailed colleagues in June. “In fact, the push is to move faster … there is a need to revamp some of our timelines.”
