WASHINGTON, D.C. – US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed the head of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Lt Gen Jeffery Kruse, in a sweeping shake-up of top Pentagon leadership just weeks after a White House rebuke of the agency’s assessment on Iran.
The Pentagon confirmed Kruse’s removal on Friday but offered no explanation.
Two other senior commanders — the chief of US Naval Reserves and the head of Naval Special Warfare Command — were also forced out, according to sources cited by Reuters.
Kruse’s ouster comes after a leaked DIA report concluded that US strikes on Iran in June had set back Tehran’s nuclear programme by only months.
President Donald Trump blasted the report as “flat out wrong,” insisting that the strikes had “completely destroyed” Iran’s nuclear sites.
At the time, Hegseth told reporters at a NATO summit that the review was based on “low intelligence” and confirmed the FBI was investigating the leak.
The DIA, a Pentagon agency distinct from the CIA, provides military-focused intelligence and technical analysis to support US defence operations.
Kruse’s removal was first reported by the Washington Post.
US Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, condemned the move, warning that Trump’s handling of intelligence posed risks to national security.
“This is a dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country,” Warner said.
The latest firings continue a pattern of dismissals of senior officials whose assessments have clashed with Trump’s narrative.
In July, the president demanded the ouster of Commissioner of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer after job data showed slowing growth.
In April, Trump removed NSA director General Timothy Haugh along with a dozen national security council staff.
Earlier in February, Hegseth fired Air Force General C Q Brown and five other senior officers.
The Pentagon shake-up underscores growing tensions between the White House and intelligence agencies, as the administration faces scrutiny over its handling of military and security information.
