Pete Hegseth is the U.S. Secretary of War (previously Secretary of Defense), sworn in Jan. 25, 2025; as head of the Department he is the President’s principal defense adviser and has authority, direction and control over the Department (responsibilities set out in 10 U.S.C. §113), including developing defense strategy, overseeing budgets, readiness, and senior leadership actions (he issues departmental announcements such as general‑officer nomination notices but the President makes nominations and the Senate confirms them).
The publicly available Jan. 22, 2026 Department of War announcement refers to President Trump’s general‑officer nominations but the press summary does not list the specific officers or ranks; I could not locate a full list in the accessible release. (Unanswerable from available sources.)
General‑officer nominations are made by the President, sent to the Senate, reviewed and confirmed by the Senate (typically by the Senate Armed Services Committee and then full Senate vote); many key flag/general promotions also require Senate advice and consent per Article II and Title 10 processes, and nominees are publicly listed as Presidential Nominations (PN) on Congress.gov.
If confirmed by the Senate, nominations normally take effect when the officer is formally appointed and promoted (the effective date is set by the services and orders that follow Senate confirmation); some promotions are tied to assignment dates or statutory grade‑eligibility windows, so the effective date varies and is specified in the appointment/promotion orders.
The full Department release and (usually) the complete list of nominated officers can be found on the Department of War’s news releases page and the specific Jan. 22, 2026 release URL; Senate nomination records for each officer appear on Congress.gov as Presidential Nominations (PN).
General‑officer promotions affect leadership structure (they fill senior command and staff billets), change who leads major organizations or joint commands, and influence force posture, continuity of command, and policy execution; they also affect personnel management (seniority, billets, promotion pipelines) and can change operational leadership priorities in theaters where those officers serve.