The Pentagon has cancelled the participation of all senior military and civilian officials scheduled to speak at this week’s Aspen Security Forum, a high-profile national-security gathering that opens on Tuesday in Colorado. The decision, taken on 14 July, was ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and communicated less than 24 hours before the event’s start. “Senior Department of Defense officials will no longer be participating at the Aspen Security Forum because their values do not align with the values of the DoD,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. Press secretary Kingsley Wilson added that the department had “no interest in legitimizing an organization that promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States.” Roughly a dozen top officers and officials were pulled, among them Navy Secretary John Phelan; U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral Samuel Paparo; Special Operations Command head General Bryan Fenton; Space Command leader General Stephen Whiting; and Transportation Command commander General Randall Reed. The move breaks with a long-standing tradition of Pentagon participation at the forum, which has featured uniformed and civilian leaders from both Republican and Democratic administrations since 2010. The Aspen Institute, which hosts the conference, said it would proceed with its programme and “continues to welcome senior officials across the political spectrum.” Organisers noted that invitations to Pentagon leaders remain open. The withdrawal underscores Hegseth’s push to align defense messaging with the administration’s “America First” agenda and follows earlier efforts to limit senior officers’ appearances at outside events.