One day before the Aspen Security Forum was set to begin, the Pentagon pulled top Department of Defense officials from participating in the four-day summit.
A spokesperson said the event, described as “the premier national security and foreign policy conference in the United States,” promotes values antithetical to the administration’s America First agenda.
“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 told Just the News.
"They are antithetical to the America First values of this administration. 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," Wilson added.
Correct. pic.twitter.com/tbi8vvTWBu
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) July 14, 2025
The Institute receives funding from left-leaning donors, stacks its commissions with anti-Trump activists, and has been linked to a series of events which Republicans say contributed to the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop stories in October 2020, critics say.
The Capital Research Center, a right-leaning think tank, stated that in 2022, the group spent $95,042,121 on public policy programs "addressing issues including economic distress, educational opportunity, environmentalism, and the left-wing concept of racial justice,” according to the center’s Influence Watch project.
The annual security forum is organized by the Aspen Strategy Group, which is part of the larger institute. The group is co-chaired by former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, as part of the Republican Bush administration, and Biden’s former ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns.
The forum’s agenda shows that the capstone event at the end of the week will feature a panel discussion among Rice, Sullivan former Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Sullivan was the country's national security adviser during the U.S. military's final withdrawal from Afghanistan, in which 13 American service members were killed, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Just the News)
The Aspen Institute responded to the Pentagon's decision in a statement, saying the invitation remains open.
"For more than a decade, the Aspen Security Forum has welcomed senior officials—Republican and Democrat, civilian and military—as well as senior foreign officials and experts, who bring experience and diverse perspectives on matters of national security," the statement said. "This year, we extended invitations to senior Trump administration officials, including several cabinet-level leaders. Today the Department of Defense gave their speakers guidance that they 'will no longer be participating.' We will miss the participation of the Pentagon, but our invitations remain open."
🚨 BREAKING: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the DoD withdraw ALL Pentagon speakers from the globalist Aspen Security Forum, ONE DAY before the event
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 14, 2025
What a move 🔥
“Senior Department of Defense officials will no longer be participating at the Aspen Security Forum… pic.twitter.com/cNPEQAXwwh
🚨NEW: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Cancels Globalist Meeting with Top Military Officials in Aspen –– BASED!
— Walter Curt (@WCdispatch_) July 14, 2025
Hours before the Aspen Security Forum’s champagne corks popped, Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon yanked a dozen top brass, including the Navy secretary and the Indo-Pac… pic.twitter.com/wGH1nnEclm
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