Hegseth fires general whose agency’s intel assessment of damage from Iran strikes angered Trump
- On Friday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dismissed Gen. Jeffrey Kruse as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Pentagon confirmed Kruse will no longer serve as DIA director.
- In June, a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment of Operation Midnight Hammer found U.S. strikes severely damaged three Iranian nuclear sites but did not fully destroy them, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the evaluation preliminary and noted gaps at a June 26 Pentagon news conference.
- Gen. Jeffrey Kruse became DIA director in February 2024 after leading intelligence for Operation Inherent Resolve and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, dismissed months after preliminary assessment leaks.
- Under Hegseth’s leadership, several senior officers have been removed, including Gen. Jeffrey Kruse and Gen. David Allvin, Air Force Chief of Staff.
- The DIA report acknowledged gaps and low confidence, and the Washington Post reported Kruse’s dismissal was tied to a ‘loss of confidence’.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired a general whose agency’s initial intelligence assessment of damage to Iranian nuclear sites from U.S. strikes angered President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the decision and a White House official.
Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse will no longer serve as head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The firing is the latest upheaval in military leadership and in the country’s intelligence agencies, coming a few months after details of the preliminary assessment leaked to the media. It found that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back only a few months by the U.S. strikes, contradicting assertions from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a news conference following the June strikes, Hegseth lambasted the press for what he claimed was an anti-military bias but did not offer any direct evidence of the destruction of Iranian nuclear production facilities.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that the Air Force’s top uniformed officer, Gen. David Allvin, planned to retire two years early. And the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — which is responsible for coordinating the work of 18 intelligence agencies, including DIA — announced that it would slash its staff and budget.
