The head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency is being removed, a senior defense official said Friday, the latest in a series of senior military leaders ousted under President Donald Trump during his second term.
The removal of Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who has led the DIA since early 2024, comes after the agency produced a preliminary assessment concluding that U.S. strikes on Iran in June set back Tehran’s nuclear program by only a few months.
That assessment — widely reported in U.S. media — contradicted Trump’s public claims that the strikes had “totally destroyed” Iran’s nuclear sites, angering both the president and members of his administration.
Kruse “will no longer serve as DIA director,” the senior defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity and without providing further explanation.
Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has overseen what critics call a purge of senior officers, including Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was fired without explanation in February.
Others removed this year include the heads of the Navy and Coast Guard, the general who led the National Security Agency, the Air Force vice chief of staff, a Navy admiral assigned to NATO, and three top military lawyers.
The Air Force chief of staff also announced an early retirement just two years into a four-year term.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended the shakeups, saying Trump is simply choosing leaders he trusts. But Democratic lawmakers have raised alarms over what they see as the politicization of the traditionally nonpartisan U.S. military.
Hegseth earlier this year ordered at least a 20% reduction in the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals, along with a 10% cut in the overall number of general and flag officers.
