Hegseth Ousts Top Army General

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday asked the Army’s top general to step down from his role and immediately retire, extending the Trump administration’s purge of top military officials and creating a key Pentagon vacancy amid the largest U.S. conflict in the Middle East in two decades.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George made it almost three of his four years in the post, which began during the Biden administration. The Pentagon, which confirmed the firing, did not specify why. The high-ranking general had served as a senior military aide to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, so was not seen as a Hegseth loyalist.

“General Randy A. George will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in an X post on Thursday afternoon. “The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation,” Parnell said in a post on X on Thursday afternoon. “We wish him well in his retirement.”

George, who commanded the Army’s 4th Infantry Division and I Corps in Afghanistan, forged a close partnership with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, partly over their desire to transform the service into a leaner, tech-savvy force eager to learn from Ukraine war’s effective use of cheap drones.

George could not immediately be reached for comment. CBS News first reported his ouster.

The general, who commanded the Army’s 4th Infantry Division and I Corps in Afghanistan, forged a close partnership with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, partly over their desire to transform the service into a leaner, tech-savvy force eager to learn from the Ukraine war’s effective use of cheap drones.

George is the latest in a line of more than a dozen top military officials that Hegseth has ousted, including former Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Slife.

The Pentagon said Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve, Hegseth’s former military aide, will serve in an acting role.