Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will meet with top military leaders next week, the Pentagon confirmed Thursday, following a report that the rare gathering will include hundreds of generals and admirals.

“The Secretary of War will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week,” chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement to The Hill, offering no additional details. 

The Washington Post first reported that Hegseth earlier this week ordered hundreds of the U.S. military’s generals and admirals to gather on short notice and without a stated reason. The meeting is expected to take place on Tuesday at a Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., according to the Post.

More than a dozen people familiar with the matter told the outlet that the directive was sent to virtually all of the military’s top commanders worldwide all senior officers with the rank of brigadier general or above, their Navy equivalent and their top enlisted advisers roughly 800 generals or admirals. 

The unexpected confab has created confusion and alarm, as there has not been a Defense secretary in recent history who has ordered such a large number of the military’s top officers to gather like this. 

The order also comes after the Trump administration has fired numerous senior leaders this year, and it follows Hegseth’s directive to reduce the number of general officers by 20 percent as the administration eyes changes to where troops are placed across the globe.

Hegseth in May ordered the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals in the U.S. military and general officers in the National Guard to be cut by at least 20 percent. He also wants the total number of general and flag officers those with the rank of one star or higher across the military to be slashed by 10 percent. 

The move would diminish the already small number of four-star generals and admirals, putting the number at less than 30, down from 37 as of 2023. It also would cut the roughly 900 current general and flag officers to south of 720.

Since February, the Trump administration has purged multiple senior military leaders, including former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. CQ Brown, Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Slife. 

In addition, last month Hegseth fired Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, Navy Reserve Chief Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, and Naval Special Warfare Command head Rear Adm. Milton Sands.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, meanwhile, last month announced he would retire in November after he was asked to step down.

Other big changes at the Pentagon include a new national defense strategy that is reportedly expected to make homeland defense the top U.S. security concern, replacing China.