Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifying before the Senate last year.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gathered nearly all of the nation’s generals and admirals at Quantico, Va., on Tuesday to hear his vision for the military.

Justice Department veterans see an overarching pattern in the dismissals — a quickening effort by the Trump administration to ignore and eventually demolish longstanding civil service legal precedents meant to keep politics out of law enforcement work.