Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has demanded the immediate resignation of Army Chief of Staff General Randy George, effective immediately. The Pentagon offered no public reason for the ouster.
George, 41st Chief of Staff since August 2023, served four decades including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and as senior military assistant to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
His removal is part of a broader leadership purge. General David Hodne and Major General William Green have also been dismissed without explanation.
General Christopher LaNeve, previously Hegseth’s top military aide, has been named acting Army Chief. LaNeve rose from two-star general to potential Army vice chief in under two years.
The shakeup coincides with the deployment of 82nd Airborne paratroopers and thousands of Marines to the Middle East. The Trump administration has declined to clarify whether ground troops will engage Iran.
In a prime-time address, President Trump vowed to hit Iran "extremely hard" over the next two to three weeks, declaring, "We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong." Hegseth echoed the sentiment in a single social media post: "Back to the Stone Age."
The purge extends beyond the Army. Trump has removed the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Navy and Coast Guard chiefs, the head of the NSA, the Air Force Vice Chief, a NATO naval commander, and three top military lawyers - all without public justification.