This combination of photos shows the official portraits of former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, left, and retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Portraits of the two men were removed from the Pentagon after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revoked Milley’s personal security detail and security clearance. (U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Defense)

WASHINGTON — The portraits of former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were removed from the Pentagon after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revoked Milley’s personal security detail and security clearance.

A portrait of Milley that honors his service as chief of staff of the Army from 2015 to 2019 was no longer displayed as of Wednesday. His portrait honoring his time as chairman of the Joint Chiefs was removed by Jan. 20, shortly after President Donald Trump began his second term in office and only 10 days after it was hung.

A portrait of Esper’s time as Army secretary, a position that he held from November 2017 to July 2019 before becoming Trump’s defense secretary during his first term, was no longer displayed as of Wednesday. But his portrait honoring his service as defense secretary was still hanging Wednesday afternoon.

Only nail holes remain where the Army portraits once hung.

The move comes after years of Trump criticizing Milley for perceived disloyalty. The retired general told Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward that Trump is “fascist to the core” and Milley had faced a series of death threats that he attributed to Trump’s steady drumbeat of verbal attacks.

Esper also criticized Trump in the years following the president’s election loss in 2020. Trump abruptly fired Esper as defense secretary in the final days of his first term as president. Esper’s downfall came after publicly disagreeing with Trump and saying active-duty military troops should not be sent to control protests in several American cities at the time. This occurred when Trump sought to pull the military more directly into the administration’s response to nationwide civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer who is white.

Both Army portraits were funded through donations from the Association of the United States Army, not taxpayer dollars, and were a gift from the Army honoring their service, The Associated Press reported.

Portraits of Army leadership remain the property of the service and will be returned to the Army Center of Military History. The Milley portrait as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, however, belongs to the Defense Department and it was unclear Wednesday what is being done with it.

“Stripping Gen. Mark Milley’s protective detail & security clearance doesn’t do anything for American military ‘lethality.’ Nor does removing his portraits from the Pentagon,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., said on X. “[Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth], please stop wasting time on [President Donald Trump’s] petty grievances & do the real work to protect our nation.”

The Army portraits being taken down came shortly after Hegseth pulled Milley’s personal security detail and security clearance, along with calling for an investigation to review his military rank.

“The secretary has also directed the [Defense Department inspector general] to conduct an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding Gen. Milley’s conduct so that the secretary may determine whether it is appropriate to reopen his military grade review determination,” Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement late Tuesday night.

The move to revoke Milley’s security detail comes after Trump revoked those protections and security clearances for other former officials in his first administration, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Brian Hook, Pompeo’s top aide, and former National Security Adviser John Bolton.

“As for Gen. Milley, the president’s position on this remains the same as it does for John Bolton and the other individuals. He doesn’t believe these people should have the right to have security clearances and private details for the rest of their lives,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday. “Again, taxpayers are funding it. And the individuals you are mentioning are quite wealthy, I understand, so they can get their own private security if they wish.”

Before leaving office, President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned Milley, along with Dr. Anthony Fauci and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

President Donald Trump is joined by Vice President Mike Pence, National Security Advisor Robert C. O’Brien, left; Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, right, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army General Mark A. Milley, and Brig. Gen. Marcus Evans, Deputy Director for Special Operations on the Joint Staff, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019, in the White House. (The White House)

Milley, 66, served as chairman from 2019 to 2023 before retiring. Trump nominated Milley for chairman during his first administration in December 2018. Milley later drew ire from Republicans for following the military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, which resulted in the deaths of 13 service members.

At the time of the appointment, Trump called Milley a “great gentleman” and a “great soldier.”

Their relationship began to sour in the summer of 2020, after Milley expressed regret for having accompanied Trump to St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington hours after Lafayette Square was cleared by police and the National Guard of protesters.

Months later, after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, Trump reportedly felt betrayed Milley had called his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng, to assure him the U.S. was “100 percent steady.”

During an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, Hegseth was asked about Milley’s portraits being taken down and orders involving the retired general. The secretary said without hesitating that “accountability is back.”

“If you actively undermined the chain of command, as Gen. Milley did under the previous Trump administration, we’re going to review those actions. There will be a review of the rank he will retain on retirement and he’ll have that process,” Hegseth said.