The head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) along with two other senior officers has been removed from their posts, officials confirmed Friday marking the latest in a string of high-level military dismissals this year.
Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, who took charge of the DIA in early 2024, was relieved of his duties after the agency issued a preliminary assessment concluding that US strikes on Iran had only delayed Tehran’s nuclear program by a few months.
The findings, widely covered by American media, directly contradicted President Donald Trump’s claims that the strikes had “completely destroyed” Iran’s nuclear sites sparking anger within the administration.
“Kruse will no longer serve as DIA director,” a senior defense official told reporters on condition of anonymity, without elaborating on the reasons for his removal.
Before assuming the DIA’s top post, Kruse served as military affairs advisor to the Director of National Intelligence and earlier as intelligence chief for the coalition fighting the Islamic State militant group.
Separately, another US official confirmed that Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, Chief of Navy Reserve, and Rear Admiral Milton Sands, Commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, are also stepping down from their positions.
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.
Defense Secretary Pete 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.”
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 politicization 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.
