How Can Congress Sack the Secretary of War? The Hegseth Test

Americans cannot simply vote a Pentagon chief out of office. The Secretary of War, formally still the Secretary of Defense, is appointed by the president and answers to him.

The name "Department of War" is Pete Hegseth's own rebranding, and President Trump cannot change the department's name without Congress's approval. Congress's strongest tool for removal is therefore impeachment, and this week showed how hard that is.

The mechanism. Under the Constitution, the House brings charges ("articles of impeachment") by a simple majority. The Senate then holds a trial, and removal needs a two-thirds vote, 67 of 100 if every senator votes.

A cabinet officer can also simply be fired by the president or resign, which is the usual way such jobs end. Beyond impeachment, Congress can hold hearings, subpoena officials, cut or condition funding, and invoke the War Powers Resolution.

What just happened. On 10 November, Republicans in the House blocked an effort by Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky to impeach Hegseth. The chamber voted 211 to 204 to refer eight articles of impeachment to the Republican-led Judiciary Committee, a move Massie warned would kill them.

No other Republicans joined Massie, while 11 Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, did not vote. If eight of them had, the procedural measure would have failed and a full impeachment vote could have followed.

The case against Hegseth. The articles accuse him of starting hostilities with Iran without a declaration of war or specific authorisation from Congress. The watchdog POGO backed the effort, saying he usurped Congress's war powers. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called him the architect of a reckless and costly failed war.

The defence. Hegseth called the impeachment push a farce and said his orders to US forces were lawful. Trump hailed the vote as a failure of the effort, and Vice President JD Vance said the move was really about Hegseth taking on the Pentagon bureaucracy. His supporters argue that presidents, not courts or lawmakers, direct military operations, and that the effort is political.

What comes next. The reprieve may be short. Democrats take control of Congress in January after voter anger over the Iran war helped them win the midterms, and Jeffries said he would discuss a new impeachment effort.

Even then, conviction in the Senate would need many Republican votes, which looks unlikely. Hegseth would have been the first US defence secretary to be impeached; the last civilian military chief impeached was William Belknap in 1876.

The wider lesson, which Africans watching Washington should note, is that removing a powerful official from office is as much about political arithmetic as legal argument. Impeachment is a political process, and numbers, not just evidence, decide it.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)

[email protected]
+233555275880

Sources
AsiaOne / Reuters, "US House blocks bid to impeach Defence Secretary Hegseth" (11 Nov 2026): https://www.asiaone.com/world/us-house-blocks-bid-impeach-defence-secretary-hegseth

The National News Desk, "House Republicans crush effort to impeach Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth" (10 Nov 2026): https://fox11online.com/news/nation-world/house-voting-on-effort-to-impeach-department-of-war-secretary-pete-hegseth-iran-conflict-strait-of-hormuz-gasoline-gas-fuel-oil-united-states-military-troops-democrats-republicans-gop-rep-thomas-massie-president-donald-trump

POGO, "POGO Calls on Congress to Impeach Hegseth" (10 Nov 2026): https://www.pogo.org/policy-letters/pogo-calls-on-congress-to-impeach-hegseth

CREW, "Congress must impeach Secretary Hegseth" (10 Nov 2026): https://www.citizensforethics.org/news/press-releases/congress-must-impeach-secretary-hegseth/

Leadership (Nigeria), report on the articles of impeachment: https://leadership.ng/?p=580588

NPR via WVIA, "Republican Rep. Massie moves to impeach Defense Secretary Hegseth over Iran war" (Sept 2026): https://www.wvia.org/news/2026-09-15/republican-rep-massie-moves-to-impeach-defense-secretary-hegseth-over-iran-war

Reuters via GV Wire, "Hegseth Faces Expected US House Impeachment Vote This Week" (9 Nov 2026): https://gvwire.com/2026/11/09/hegseth-faces-expected-us-house-impeachment-vote-this-week/