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WASHINGTON � Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday fired Lt. Gen.
Jeffrey Kruse, the head of the Pentagon�s Defense Intelligence Agency, according to White House and Pentagon officials, another in a raft of
senior officers who have been removed under Hegseth�s watch.

The firing follows an initial assessment by the agency in June indicating
that strikes against Iran�s nuclear facilities had a limited effect,
seemingly contradicting President Donald Trump�s claim at the time that
the facilities had been �obliterated.�

Pentagon and White House officials issued brief statements that did not
provide any rationale for the firing, but said that Kruse �will no longer
serve as DIA Director.� A DIA spokesperson provided a statement to NBC
News that says, �Deputy Director Christine Bordine assumes the role of
Acting Director of DIA effective immediately.�

Administration officials gave no reason for the firing of Kruse, who had
been in the job since February 2024 and would normally be expected to
serve until 2027. Congressional officials also confirmed the firing and
said they were told it was for a �lack of confidence,� a bland expression
the military often uses to cover any number of reasons someone was
removed. Kruse�s firing was first reported by The Washington Post.

Separately, a defense official confirmed to NBC News late Friday that Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, the chief of the Navy Reserve, and Rear Admiral
Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversees the Naval Special Warfare Command, were also fired. The Post first reported those firings as well.

Kruse joins a growing list of senior generals and admirals fired under
Hegseth, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the general
who headed the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, the Navy�s
top admiral and the head of the U.S. Coast Guard. Earlier this week, Air
Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin announced unexpectedly that he
would be retiring in November, about two years earlier than the usual four years for a service chief.

Immediately following the strikes against Iran�s nuclear facilities in
June, the DIA completed an initial, classified assessment of the damage.
That assessment was marked as �low confidence� because it came only about
24 hours after the strikes. But it indicated that Iran�s nuclear program
had been set back several months, according to three individuals with
knowledge of the report, NBC News reported at the time. That was at odds
with Trump, who remarked immediately after the strikes that the nuclear
sites had been �totally obliterated.�

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/hegseth-fires-head- defense-intelligence-agency-rcna226677

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