Pentagon Pulls Top Officers from Colorado Security Conference, Claiming It Promotes 'Evil of Globalism' [View all]

Source: Yahoo! News/Military.com

Mon, July 14, 2025 at 5:55 PM EDT


The Pentagon has pulled a host of top military officials from attending a major security conference in Colorado that was set to start Tuesday, arguing that the event is anti-American and goes against the values of the Trump administration. "The Department of Defense has no interest in legitimizing an organization that has invited former officials who have been the architects of chaos abroad and failure at home," Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement.

The conference in question is the Aspen Security Forum -- an event put on annually by the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit organization -- and it is one of the most high-profile events for top officials in the national security space. Its attendees have historically included top military leaders, lawmakers and officials from both political parties. Over the years, numerous top military leaders -- including some that have gone on to have a role in Trump's political movement -- have appeared at the conference.

This year's final event at the conference is slated to feature a conversation between Condoleezza Rice, a top Bush-era official and co-chair of the group hosting the event; Robert Gates, a former secretary of defense for both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama; and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser for President Joe Biden.

The program also advertised a host of top military officials who had been slated to speak, including Adm. Samuel Paparo, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command; Gen. Bryan Fenton, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command; and Lt. Gen. John Brennan, the deputy commander of U.S. Africa Command. Wilson, however, went on to say that "senior representatives of the Department of Defense will no longer be participating in an event that promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the president of the United States."

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