Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired a general whose agency’s initial intelligence assessment of US damage to Iranian nuclear sites angered President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the decision and a White House official.
Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse will no longer serve as head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), according to the people, who spoke to the Associated Press Friday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss it publicly.
A US official separately said on condition of anonymity that two other senior officers – Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, chief of Navy Reserve, and Rear Admiral Milton Sands, commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command – were also leaving their positions.
Israel: Doubts about the state of Iran's nuclear facilities could shake Netanyahu
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The removal of Kruse, who led the DIA since early 2024, comes after the agency produced a preliminary assessment that said US strikes on Iran set back Tehran's nuclear programme by just a few months.
The assessment – which was widely reported on by US media – contradicted claims from Trump that the strikes totally destroyed the nuclear sites, drawing the ire of both him and officials within his administration.
Prior to becoming director of the DIA, Kruse served as the advisor for military affairs for the director of national intelligence, and also held positions including director of intelligence for the coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group.
Series of top officers fired
In June, the United States launched a massive operation against three Iranian nuclear sites, an effort that involved more than 125 US aircraft as well as a guided missile submarine.
Trump called the strikes a "spectacular military success" and repeatedly said they "obliterated" the nuclear sites, but the DIA's preliminary assessment raised doubts about the president's claims.
The Trump administration responded with an offensive against the media, insisting the operation was a total success and berating journalists for reporting on the assessment.
Hegseth insisted the assessment was "leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn't successful", and slammed "fawning coverage of a preliminary assessment".
Have US strikes 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear sites, as Trump says
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Trump has a history of removing government officials whose data and analysis he disagrees with. Earlier this month, after a jobs report revealed a weak labour market as employers sharply pulled back on hiring, he fired the official in charge of the data. His administration also has stopped posting reports on climate change, canceled studies on vaccine access and removed data on gender identity from government sites.
Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has overseen a purge of top military officers, including chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff general Charles "CQ" Brown, whom he fired without explanation in February.
Other senior officers dismissed this year include the heads of the Navy and Coast Guard, the general who headed the National Security Agency, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, a Navy admiral assigned to NATO, and three top military lawyers.
The chief of staff of the Air Force also recently announced his retirement without explanation just two years into a four-year term.
Hegseth has insisted the president is simply choosing the leaders he wants, but Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about the potential politicisation of the traditionally neutral US military.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon chief additionally ordered at least a 20 percent reduction in the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals in the US military, as well as a 10 percent cut in the overall number of general and flag officers.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
English (US) · 