United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth blocked nine Navy officers, including three women and two black men, from being promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral (one-star), according to a Monday New York Times report.

Each of the nine officers had been selected for promotion by a board of senior Navy admirals before their removal from the list of R.-Adm. nominees.

Multiple current and former defense officials told the NYT that the promotion system is intended to be merit-based and apolitical, but agreed that Hegseth’s actions are highly unusual.

According to the NYT report, Pentagon rules outline that the defense secretary is only supposed to remove officers from the promotion list for mental, moral, or professional failings that would impact their new role.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell asserted that “Military promotions are given to those who have earned them,” declining to explain Hegseth’s actions to the NYT. “The department will never consider the color of a service member’s skin or their gender as a factor in promotions.” 

The NYT emphasized that none of the remaining 22 R.-Adm. nominees are women, despite women making up over a fifth of active-duty Navy personnel. Racial minorities, which the NYT reported make up around 38% of active-duty Navy personnel, were also underrepresented in the list of nominees after Hegseth’s edits.  

According to the NYT, some of the officers removed from the promotion list were targeted because they had previously taken part in diversity-related events.

Before he removed the nine nominees, Hegseth reportedly pushed Navy officials to promote his special assistant, Navy SEAL Capt. William Francis Jr., to a R.-Adm. According to the NYT, Francis lacked the necessary experience for the promotion and was not selected.