Quill Lawrence
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-23-2025 3PM EDT
Secretary Doug Collins sent a memo to the VA's hundreds of thousands of staff nationwide encouraging them to report instances of bias against Christians. He asked that staff inform the new task force with names, dates, and locations of any instance where Christians are adversely affected for displaying religious symbols or expressing Christian views.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-23-2025 3PM EDT
The memo says hormone therapy, abortion, and vaccine mandates are examples of things Christian staff may abstain from. The lead Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Richard Blumenthal, said the VA memo lacks any factual basis or rationale, and the task force, quote, raises the specter of dividing the veteran community and favoring some religions over others. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-19-2025 3PM EDT
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said the Trump administration's attempt to prevent trans Americans from serving in the military violates their constitutional rights, which she called a cruel irony since, quote, "...thousands of transgender service members have sacrificed, some risking their lives, to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the military ban seeks to deny them."
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-19-2025 3PM EDT
The judge's order temporarily blocks the Pentagon's policy from going into effect. The ban stems from a White House executive order that denies any difference between gender and sex and calls trans people dishonest for claiming otherwise. Of the nearly 1.3 million active duty U.S. troops, 1% or less identify as trans. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-25-2025 4PM EDT
In the military, sending classified data over insecure channels is called slippage when it's considered minor, but even that can be a career ender for a military officer. There's almost no precedent for the heads of defense, state, and national security to be sharing such sensitive military intelligence in a forum that was known to be unsecure. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-25-2025 4PM EDT
In a group chat that inadvertently included journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, the Trump administration's top intelligence officials discussed sensitive attack plans over the Signal app. But NPR has seen an internal memo sent only last week to the entire Department of Defense that reads, "...a vulnerability has been identified in the Signal messenger application."
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-24-2025 3PM EDT
In March, a district court judge in Washington state agreed and blocked the order, noting that the Trump administration showed no evidence that transgender troops serving has harmed the military. Now, the White House says that the ban must be allowed to take effect while the Supreme Court deliberates because delay would be, quote, contrary to military readiness and the nation's interests.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-24-2025 3PM EDT
Less than 1% of the military identifies as trans. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-24-2025 3PM EDT
The Trump administration has argued that trans people are dishonest, which contradicts military values. An executive order in January banned them from service. Several transgender troops sued, claiming the ban is insulting and discriminatory and would cause lasting damage to their careers and reputations.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-12-2025 8PM EST
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has claimed that high numbers of Americans joined the Army in December and January because of President Trump's leadership and a new emphasis away from diversity initiatives. That may be true, but Army data show that after a slump in 2022 and 2023, recruiting goals have been met over the past year, with a surplus from 2024 to start off this year.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-12-2025 8PM EST
One reason is an Army program for future soldiers that helps Americans get physically fit or academically caught up so they can qualify to serve. Another factor is a growing number of women enlisting over the past three years. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-21-2025 2PM EDT
NPR has learned that the White House has begun the process of looking for a new Secretary of Defense, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. NPR has reached out to the White House for comment. In March, Hegseth shared details about airstrikes in Yemen in a signal chat that accidentally included a journalist.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-21-2025 2PM EDT
Now NPR has confirmed he also shared details in a group chat, including his wife and brother using his personal cell phone. Hegseth is trying to turn the tables.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-21-2025 2PM EDT
In recent weeks, four senior advisors to Hegseth have left abruptly and suggested that Pentagon infighting is hurting President Trump. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-25-2025 4PM EDT
The White House is seeking senior staff at the Pentagon to, quote, write the ship, according to a former Trump official who requested anonymity to describe internal deliberations. Five of Hegseth's key advisers left in the past two weeks amid infighting and accusation of leaks to the press. Meanwhile, four new senior advisers have been quickly named.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-25-2025 4PM EDT
They include Colonel Ricky Berea, a former junior military assistant, and Justin Fulcher, a 32-year-old member of the Doge team embedded at the Pentagon. Chief Spokesman Sean Parnell has been promoted to Assistant Secretary of Defense and Senior Advisor. A Pentagon spokesman says regular workforce adjustments are a feature of any highly efficient organization.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-25-2025 4PM EDT
Democrats and at least one Republican in Congress say Hegseth should be replaced. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-23-2025 8PM EST
In the meantime, doctors and nurses nationwide who thought they had VA job offers got the news their offers were rescinded. After two days of mixed messages, the administration has now exempted the majority of health care positions at VA from the hiring freeze. Senate Democrats have urged Trump to protect all VA staff positions from the freeze. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-23-2025 8PM EST
Doug Collins, an Air Force Reserve colonel and former Georgia congressman, was endorsed by the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee 18 to 1, almost guaranteeing he'll be the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs. During his confirmation hearing this week, he was pressed on whether President Trump's federal hiring freeze would apply to VA. He said he needed to study it.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-21-2025 5PM EDT
U.S. officials had told NPR and other media outlets that Musk was scheduled for a briefing in a secure facility known as the Tank, normally used by the Joint Chiefs, and that he'd be informed of sensitive Pentagon plans regarding China, including by the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-21-2025 5PM EDT
Instead, Musk met with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in his office to discuss cost-cutting and innovation, according to Hegseth. Speaking at the White House soon after, President Trump said he would never show U.S. war planning to anybody, especially a businessman like Musk with interests in China.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-21-2025 5PM EDT
Trump called reports to the contrary false and said they're meant to undermine the relationship between the Pentagon and Musk. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
Up First from NPR
Defense Department Leak, Mourning Francis, SCOTUS Considers Opting Out
official told us that the search has begun after this second round of headlines about Hegseth. I should add that the White House has said our anonymous source doesn't know what they're talking about. But at a Rose Garden event yesterday, the president stood firmly by Hegseth, at least publicly.
Up First from NPR
Defense Department Leak, Mourning Francis, SCOTUS Considers Opting Out
Yeah, there were four senior advisors to Hegseth who left in just the past week. Former Defense Department spokesman John Elliott resigned last week and then published a quite extraordinary opinion piece calling the past month at the Pentagon a, quote, full-blown meltdown and saying that this infighting is hurting President Trump.
Up First from NPR
Defense Department Leak, Mourning Francis, SCOTUS Considers Opting Out
He served in Trump's first administration and appears to want to continue to serve, but Three other Pentagon advisors, Colin Carroll, Dan Caldwell, and Darren Selnick, were escorted out of the Pentagon and accused of leaking information to the press.
Up First from NPR
Defense Department Leak, Mourning Francis, SCOTUS Considers Opting Out
They then put out, as a trio, the three of them put out a joint statement on X saying that their dismissal was unconscionable and that they haven't even been told what they stand accused of leaking. All three of them served in uniform. They say they understand the importance of information security. Caldwell and Selnick, notably, are longtime associates of of Hegseth.
Up First from NPR
Defense Department Leak, Mourning Francis, SCOTUS Considers Opting Out
They've worked with him over a decade back to when he was at Concerned Veterans for America, a policy group.
Up First from NPR
Defense Department Leak, Mourning Francis, SCOTUS Considers Opting Out
Yeah, I mean, with the first chat group, it was against Pentagon policy to use Signal for that. There were a lot of security issues with it, discussing details of an attack hours before the bombs hit in Yemen. But the people in that chat were the vice president, the secretary of state, people who would need to know.
Up First from NPR
Defense Department Leak, Mourning Francis, SCOTUS Considers Opting Out
This second group, it appears that Hegseth was just cut and pasting this actionable intelligence about U.S. strikes to his wife. People who just, I can't think of any conceivable... need they would have to know this information. And military sources, veterans I talked to, were just outraged about this. They say that it really did put U.S. lives at risk and American security at risk.
Up First from NPR
Defense Department Leak, Mourning Francis, SCOTUS Considers Opting Out
And they're concerned that this example being set, you know, the military really drills into troops that they have to take responsibility for their actions, own up. And so far, Hegseth has not done that yet for either of these signal chats.