U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, along with two other senior military commanders, in what officials describe as the latest purge of top defense leadership under President Donald Trump.
Three U.S. officials confirmed the dismissals on Friday, though the Pentagon has not provided an official explanation for the sudden moves.
The shake-up extended beyond the DIA. According to one U.S. official, Hegseth also ordered the removal of the chief of U.S. Naval Reserves and the commander of Naval Special Warfare Command.
While the reasons remain unclear, Kruse’s firing follows the leak of a classified DIA assessment that contradicted Trump’s claims about recent U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The report suggested the strikes had set Tehran’s program back only a few months—not “obliterated” it, as Trump claimed. The leak reportedly angered the White House, which dismissed the findings as “flat out wrong.”
Growing concerns over intelligence politicization
The decision has fueled concerns in Washington that the administration is using loyalty tests to reshape the national security establishment.
“The firing of yet another senior national security official underscores the Trump administration’s dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country,” said Senator Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Washington Post first reported Kruse’s removal.
Part of a broader purge
This is not the first time the Trump administration has reshuffled Pentagon leadership. Earlier this year, Hegseth dismissed Air Force General C.Q. Brown, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with five other senior officers. In April, Trump also fired General Timothy Haugh, director of the National Security Agency, as part of a broader purge of more than a dozen national security officials.
Adding to the instability, the U.S. Air Force chief announced on Monday that he would retire halfway through his tenure—a move that caught many defense analysts by surprise.
Security clearances revoked
The firing comes just days after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, following Trump’s orders, revoked security clearances for 37 current and former U.S. intelligence officials.
This continues a pattern of mass revocations during Trump’s second term, targeting senior intelligence professionals, including former President Joe Biden and ex-Vice President Kamala Harris. The administration argues the cuts are aimed at reducing government size and halting what it calls the “politicization of intelligence.”
