Pentagon Upheaval, Hamas Releases More Hostages, NY State Prisons

Summary

Up First from NPR – February 22, 2025

In today's episode of NPR's Up First, hosted by Ayesha Rascoe and Scott Simon, three major stories take center stage: significant upheaval within the Pentagon, the release of additional Israeli hostages by Hamas, and widespread protests within New York State prisons. This comprehensive summary delves into each of these topics, highlighting key discussions, insights, and notable quotes from experts and those directly affected.

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1. Pentagon Upheaval

President Trump's Dismissals and Restructuring

The episode opens with startling news from the Pentagon. President Donald Trump has initiated a sweeping dismissal of top military leadership, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., marking him as the second African American to hold this prestigious position. Alongside General Brown, over 5,000 personnel, including top military lawyers, have been released from their roles.

Nomination of Gen. Dan Kaine

In place of General Brown, Trump has nominated Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Kaine as the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. Kaine is a seasoned F-16 pilot who previously served at the CIA and worked closely with Trump during his time in Baghdad in 2018-2019. However, his nomination requires promotion to a four-star rank and Senate approval.

Insights from Tom Bowman

NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman provides an in-depth analysis of these developments:

“There’s been talk for weeks that General Brown would be fired, and a lot of this comes down to a sense the general was chosen for the post because of the color of his skin, not his ability. [Tom Bowman, 02:25]”

Bowman elaborates on the contentious reasons behind Brown's dismissal, citing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's criticisms in his book War and Warriors, where he questions Brown's qualifications, suggesting that diversity initiatives influenced his appointment more than merit. Bowman defends General Brown's extensive experience and strategy, notably his role in defeating ISIS by targeting its infrastructure and financial systems—a strategy not highlighted by Trump.

Regarding Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to hold her position in the Navy, Bowman explains:

“She was seen as a diversity hire, as woke... these admirals and generals follow policy set by civilians and are now paying the price.” [Tom Bowman, 04:55]

Wider Implications

The upheaval extends beyond high-ranking officers. Approximately 5,400 civilian probationary workers are being let go from the Department of Defense, with plans to reduce this number by up to 55,000. The budget cuts from these dismissals are intended to fund the development of more submarines, drones, and missile defense systems.

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2. Hamas Releases More Hostages

Details of the Recent Releases

In a significant development in the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, Hamas has released additional Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf provides detailed coverage of these releases:

“The hostages released today include four men captured during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel and two long-term captives held in Gaza for about a decade.” [Kat Lonsdorf, 06:30]

Case of Shiri Bebus

A particularly poignant moment occurred when Hamas attempted to return the body of Shiri Bebus, an Israeli mother, along with her two young sons. Initially, Hamas released a different unidentified woman's body, leading to confusion and distress. Later, they correctly identified and returned Shiri’s body:

“The forensic examiner in Israel found that all three—Shiri and her two sons—had been murdered, but did not provide further details.” [Kat Lonsdorf, 08:20]

Largest Prisoner Exchange

Alongside the hostage releases, Israel has agreed to release over 600 Palestinians from Israeli jails, marking the largest release of Palestinian prisoners during the ceasefire. These prisoners include individuals serving life sentences for deadly attacks, as well as many held without charges, including women and minors.

Public Sentiment and Future Negotiations

Public sentiment in Israel remains divided. While far-right members of the government advocate for the resumption of conflict, the majority of the Israeli public supports continuing the ceasefire to secure the release of remaining hostages. Liat Ellert, a 43-year-old resident, expressed the public’s collective desire:

“People are doing everything they can in their power to bring those hostages back home.” [Emily Russell, 09:14]

Kat Lonsdorf highlights that although there are plans for additional hostages' bodies to be released, negotiations for the next phase have yet to commence, partly due to political complexities within Israel.

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3. New York State Prisons Under Strain

Widespread Strikes by Corrections Officers

Amidst escalating tensions in New York State prisons, corrections officers have initiated strikes across 38 of the state's 42 prisons. These strikes, which began on Monday, are driven by grievances over being overworked, understaffed, and facing unsafe working conditions. A critical demand from the striking officers is the repeal of the HALT Act, which restricts the use of solitary confinement.

Deployment of National Guard Troops

In response to the strikes, Governor Kathy Hochul has deployed 3,500 National Guard troops to assist in securing the prisons. This measure aims to maintain order and ensure the safety of both inmates and staff during this tumultuous period.

Incident Reports and Arrests

The strikes have led to significant disruptions within prisons. Notably, at the Ogdensburg and Malone prisons, guards left their posts, leaving inmates unsupervised for extended periods. Additionally, the state has charged six correctional officers with murder following a December incident where officers fatally beat an inmate, Robert Brooks. All accused officers have pleaded not guilty.

“Inmates say they feel abandoned and unsafe.” [Ayesha Rascoe, 10:35]

Advocacy and Community Impact

Corrections officers argue that their strikes aim to improve prison conditions rather than disrupt the system. Advocates like Thomas Gant, a former inmate and current advocate, emphasize that the focus should shift from punitive measures to rehabilitation:

“The answer is to give programs, to give skills... not just teaching a person how to mop and sweep a floor, but give them more contemporary skills.” [Emily Russell, 12:27]

Governor Hochul's Response

Governor Hochul has taken a firm stance on the issue, stating that corrections officers have been "rightfully charged with murder" in the Brooks case. In addressing the strikes, she has temporarily suspended parts of the HALT Act to grant officers more flexibility in using solitary confinement and has scheduled mediation talks between state officials and the corrections officers' union.

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Conclusion

Today's Up First from NPR provides a deep dive into pressing national and international issues, from high-level military dismissals and hostage negotiations to critical labor strikes within the criminal justice system. These stories highlight the complex interplay between politics, security, and human rights, offering listeners a comprehensive understanding of the current landscape.

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Notable Quotes:

• Tom Bowman on Pentagon Upheaval:
  “There’s been talk for weeks that General Brown would be fired, and a lot of this comes down to a sense the general was chosen for the post because of the color of his skin, not his ability.” ([02:25])

• Kat Lonsdorf on Hostage Releases:
  “The hostages released today include four men captured during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel and two long-term captives held in Gaza for about a decade.” ([06:30])

• Emily Russell on Public Sentiment:
  “People are doing everything they can in their power to bring those hostages back home.” ([09:14])

• Ayesha Rascoe on Prison Conditions:
  “Inmates say they feel abandoned and unsafe.” ([10:35])

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Support NPR:

To continue supporting in-depth reporting like today's, consider subscribing to Up First+ for sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org/upfirst.

Transcript

[Ayesha Rascoe]

Upheaval at the Pentagon.

[Scott Simon]

President Donald Trump fires the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

Top military lawyers are also out, as are more than 5,000 personnel. I'm Ayesha Rascoe.

[Scott Simon]

And I'm Scott Simon. And this is up first from NPR News.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

Hamas frees more Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

[Scott Simon]

The militant group has also returned the body of Sherry Bebas, whose remains were initially misidentified in an earlier handover. We'll have the latest.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

And in New York State, the governor has deployed National Guard troops to help secure prisons.

[Scott Simon]

That's amid protests by corrections officers. Some are on strike. Guards at two prisons walked off the job last week.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

Stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend.

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[Ayesha Rascoe]

Air Force General Charles Q. Brown, Jr. The second African American to serve as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is now out of a job.

[Scott Simon]

He was fired last night by President Trump.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

Trump has nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Kaine as his replacement.

[Scott Simon]

NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman joins us with more details about this and other Department of Defense shakeups. Tom, thanks for being here.

[Tom Bowman]

Good to be with you, Scott.

[Scott Simon]

What happened?

[Tom Bowman]

Well, you know, it is stunning, but it actually was expected. Scott, there's been talk for weeks that General Brown would be fired, and a lot of this comes down to a sense the general was chosen for the post because of the color of his skin not his ability. Now, again, he's a second African American after Colin Powell to hold a top military job. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in his book War and Warriors that Brown should be fired because he was pushing diversity programs and questioned whether he got the job because of the color of his skin or his skill. Texas said he made the race card his biggest calling card. Now, Brown did make an emotional video after the death of George Floyd, recalling his discrimination he felt rising through the ranks in the Air Force. But Brown's an accomplished F16 pilot, held numerous commands and also it was Trump during his first term who nominated him to become Air force chief.

[Scott Simon]

Who's General Kane man set to replace him?

[Tom Bowman]

General Kaine. He's an F16 pilot. Like CQ Brown, he rose up through the ranks and met Trump while he was stationed in Baghdad back in 2018 19. And Trump said Kaine told him that ISIS could be defeated quickly. And Trump said he delivered. And what's important to note, Scott, is that Brown came up with the strategy to defeat isis. He was going to treat it as a state, not as a terror group where you provide air support to the Kurdish fighters on the ground. He went after their infrastructure, went after their banks. That's what ended the Islamic State. You know, that's something that Trump never mentioned. And Dan Kaine more recently spent time working at the CIA. Several people I spoke with at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill said they had to Google him. He's a retired three star, so he'll have to come back on active duty, be promoted to four star rank and will need Senate approval.

[Scott Simon]

Secretary Hegseth also fired the top admiral in the Navy, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to hold the job. And that's of course, along with a lot of other firings. Tell us about that.

[Tom Bowman]

Well, again, Hegseth said in his book, you know, she was chosen because of her gender. She rose up the ranks herself, was a commanded a destroyer, two carrier strike groups, and also the 6th Fleet that covers Europe and Asia. So again, this was expected as well. The sense was that her time was coming because again, they saw her as a diversity hire, as woke. But again, Scott, these admirals and generals, they follow policy. They don't come up with these diversity programs. They're following policy set by civilians and now they're paying the price.

[Scott Simon]

More than 5,000 civilians also being let go from the DOD, aren't they?

[Tom Bowman]

That's right. We'll see that next week. Roughly 5,400, we're told, throughout the Pentagon and also the defense agencies, and that's their first tranche, we're told, of up to 55,000 civilian probationary workers who will be let go. And the savings from these firings and other cuts to programs will be used to build more submarines, drones and also missile defense.

[Scott Simon]

NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman. Thanks so much for being with us, Tom.

[Tom Bowman]

You're welcome, Scott.

[Scott Simon]

Today, another release of living Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

It's the last such exchange in the first phase of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

[Scott Simon]

NPR's Kat Lonsdorf joins us now. Kat, thanks for being with us.

[Kat Lonsdorf]

Hey, good morning.

[Scott Simon]

What can you tell us about the hostages released today?

[Kat Lonsdorf]

So the hostages released today are four men who had been captured in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel and held captive throughout the war. And then also two hostages that have been held in Gaza for around a decade. One is an Ethiopian Israeli man and the other is a Bedouin Arab citizen of Israel. Both of them had been taken captive after they had crossed into Gaza on their own years ago in separ incidents.

[Scott Simon]

And what were today's releases like?

[Kat Lonsdorf]

So in Gaza it was a bit more complicated than other releases in the past. The six were released in three different locations throughout the Gaza Strip, but generally the scene was similar to others that we've seen in this past month. The hostages were brought on a stage by a masked Hamas gunman with a huge crowd of Palestinian onlookers before being released in to the International Committee of the Red Cross and then driven to.

[Scott Simon]

Meet Israeli forces in exchange for these hostages. And the four bodies returned earlier this week, Israel has agreed to Release More than 600 Palestinians from Israeli jails. What details do you have about that?

[Kat Lonsdorf]

So this is the largest release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees at one time during this ceasefire. Among them are prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis, but also many who have been held in administrative detention without charge or sentences, including women and minors. More than 400 of them are Palestinians who had been detained in Gaza during the war and they're going to be released back to Gaza. Others are being deported to Egypt.

[Scott Simon]

Kat, there was a mix up with one of the bodies Hamas released earlier this week. It was supposed to be that of Israeli mother returned with the bodies of her two young sons who were slain, but it wasn't. What's the latest?

[Kat Lonsdorf]

Yeah, so this was the body of Shiri Bebus, who had been captured with her husband and two young sons on October 7, 2020. And together the family had become a symbol in Israel of the hostage struggle. Hamas says Shiri and her two children were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the war. Hamas supposedly released their bodies on Thursday like you said, but when they were taken to a forensic lab here in Israel, it was found that the woman's body was not Sherry, it was an unidentified woman. Hamas then gave a different body back to Israel late last night. That body was then positively identified as Shiri. The forensic examiner here in Israel found that all three Sherry and her two young sons had been, quote, murdered, but did not provide further details or evidence as to how.

[Scott Simon]

This is the last scheduled release of hostages who are alive from Gaza in the first phase of the agreement. What's next?

[Kat Lonsdorf]

So there are four more bodies set to be released next week in this first phase, but there are still dozens of hostages in Gaza. Talks for the next phase of the deal, they were supposed to start weeks ago and they haven't started yet. Hamas has said it's ready to, quote, engage immediately in negotiations. But the situation here in Israel is really complicated. Several far right members in Israel's government want the war to resume. Meanwhile, most of the Israeli public want the ceasefire to continue and the rest of the hostages to be released. Here's 43 year old Liat Ellert. She talked to NPR producer Ite Stern this morning. And a crowd of people gathered in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages.

[Emily Russell]

If you're walking around here and seeing all the people here, the people of Israel are voting with their hands, feet, whatever they can do and doing everything they can in their power to bring those hostages back home.

[Kat Lonsdorf]

You know, many of the Israelis we talked to today had a similar sentiment. They want this war to be over and they want the rest of the hostages released.

[Scott Simon]

NPR's Kat Lansdorf in Tel Aviv. Thanks so much, Kat.

[Kat Lonsdorf]

Thank you.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

Prison guards protesting working conditions they say are unfair and unsafe have been on strike across New York state since Monday.

[Scott Simon]

Inmates say they feel abandoned and unsafe.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

And there have been other developments this week. A group of correctional officers were charged in a fatal beating of an inmate.

[Scott Simon]

North Country Public Radio's Emily Russell joins us. Emily, thanks for being with us.

[Emily Russell]

Good morning, Scott.

[Scott Simon]

And what has prompted the prison strikes in New York this week?

[Emily Russell]

Well, corrections officers say they're overworked, they're understaffed, and they say they face dangerous conditions on the job. The strike started at a few prisons Monday morning and has spread to 38 of the state's 42 prisons. I should note it's actually illegal for New York State employees to go on strike but that hasn't stopped this one. Corrections officers are making a number of demands. A key one is to repeal the HALT act, which limits their use of solitary confinement. We talked to a retired corrections officer, Gregory Gregory King, at the strike outside the prison in Dannemora this week.

[Dana Farber]

Inmates now don't have any repercussions for their actions.

[Kat Lonsdorf]

The flow of fentanyl and other drugs.

[Tom Bowman]

Within the facility is out of control. So it's becoming unsafe for everybody that's working in there.

[Emily Russell]

Governor Kathy Hochul has deployed 3,500 New York National Guard troops to help secure prisons during the strikes.

[Scott Simon]

I gather tensions also on the rise of two prisons in northern New York this week. What happened there?

[Emily Russell]

Well, part of the issue with these officers striking has been that the ones working inside these prisons don't have many people to relieve them. Now, it's a little unclear what exactly happened at these prisons, but in Ogdensburg, we know that there were officers who were on duty who, quote, vacated their posts Wednesday night and left inmates unsupervised for hours. That's according to the state's Department of Corrections. A similar thing happened at one of the prisons in Malone on Thursday.

[Scott Simon]

What are you able to hear from inmates and groups that speak for them?

[Emily Russell]

Well, they say inmates are the ones suffering because of the strikes. The state has canceled visits at all prisons. Advocates say that adds a layer of isolation on top of the push to allow officers more leeway with solitary confinement. I talked to Thomas gant. He served 25 years behind bars and now works for the center for Community Alternatives. That's an advocacy group based in New York City.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

The answer isn't to continue to lock people away and confine them. The answer is to give programs, to give skills, not just teaching a person.

[Emily Russell]

How to mop and sweep a floor.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

But give them more contemporary skills.

[Emily Russell]

Gant and a number of other advocates think that prison strikes are an attempt to distract from something else that happened this week. The arrest of officers charged with fatally beating an inmate back in December.

[Scott Simon]

And, Emily, please remind us about that incident and how it might figure into this week's arrests.

[Emily Russell]

Yeah, so. So back in December, several corrections officers at a prison near Utica, New York, fatally beat an inmate. His name was Robert Brooks. Body camera footage shows Brooks and handcuffs as officers punch and kick and choke him. His death was ruled a homicide. And on Thursday, six officers were charged with murder. Three others were charged with manslaughter for not intervening. Every officer arraigned this week has pleaded not guilty.

[Scott Simon]

And how has the governor of New York responded to all this.

[Emily Russell]

Well, in the case of Robert Brooks, Governor Hochul said in a statement that corrections officers had been, quote, rightfully charged with murder. As for the strikes, the state has tried to meet some of the demands. It has temporarily suspended parts of the HALT act, so giving officers more flexibility to use solitary confinement. And mediation talks are set to begin on Monday between state officials and the union that represents corrections officers. You know, all of this has happened the same week. The governor is dealing with a few other big issues, one being New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the Justice Department's involvement in his corruption case. And then President Donald Trump moved to reverse the city's congestion pricing plan. So it's been a chaotic week in New York, to say the least.

[Scott Simon]

North Country Public Radio's Emily Russell. Emily, thanks so much for being with us.

[Emily Russell]

Thanks, Scott.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

And that's up first for Saturday, February 22nd. I'm Ayesha Rascoe.

[Scott Simon]

And I'm Scott Simon Martin.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

Patience handcrafted today's podcast with care and with help from the equally gifted and talented Michael Radcliffe.

[Scott Simon]

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[Ayesha Rascoe]

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[Ayesha Rascoe]

Tomorrow on the Sunday story, conspiracy theories are all over social media. For some, that's as far as they go. But for reporter Zach Mack, they've infiltrated his his family and frayed relationships. What happens when relatives can't agree on what's true and what isn't?

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