Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has dismissed Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, in a move officials attributed Friday to a "loss of confidence." The firing continues the Trump administration's purge of top national security officials, the Washington Post reports. Kruse oversaw the agency's preliminary assessment that a US airstrike badly damaged but did not destroy nuclear sites in Iran, per ABC News, a report that infuriated President Trump, who insisted the attack had "obliterated" the targets.
Defense officials said there could be more such firings before the end of the day. In revealing the dismissal, the DIA said only that Kruse, who had been director since December 2023, is "no longer" in the job. Christine Bordine, Kruse's deputy, will become acting director, per Axios. The agency supplies tactical intelligence to US forces in the field and serves as the principal intelligence office for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee immediately criticized the dismissal of Kruse, per the Hill.
"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," Sen. Mark Warner said in a statement. "General Kruse is a career military officer with decades of distinguished, non-partisan service to our nation, making this ouster all the more troubling." Other senior military officials ousted under Hegseth include the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of naval operations, the Coast Guard commandant, and the Air Force vice chief of staff. The Air Force's chief of staff said he'll leave after being asked to retire, per the Post.
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