WASHINGTON, Aug. 24: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Lt Gen Jeffery Kruse, only weeks after a White House dispute over an assessment of US strikes on Iran, the BBC reported on Saturday, the BBC reported.
According to the BBC, the Pentagon announced that Kruse would no longer serve as DIA chief, and two other senior military commanders were also removed. No official reason for the firings has been given.
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The BBC stated that President Donald Trump had strongly rejected a leaked DIA report in June that claimed US attacks had set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months. The White House called the agency’s findings “flat out wrong”. Trump insisted that Iranian nuclear sites had been “completely destroyed”, and he accused the media of trying to diminish what he described as “one of the most successful military strikes in history,” the BBC reported.
At the time, during a NATO summit, Hegseth criticized the DIA report as based on “low intelligence” and confirmed that the FBI was investigating the leak, the BBC reported. The Washington Post first revealed Kruse’s removal, said the BBC
The DIA is a Pentagon agency specializing in military intelligence in support of operations, distinct from the CIA, according to the BBC.
Reuters cited an anonymous source saying Hegseth had also removed the head of US Naval Reserves and the commander of Naval Special Warfare Command.
The BBC quoted Senator Mark Warner as warning that Kruse’s dismissal showed Trump’s “dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country.”
The BBC noted that Trump has previously fired officials whose findings clashed with his positions. In July, he ordered the removal of Commissioner of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer after a report showed slowing job growth. In April, he dismissed General Timothy Haugh as director of the National Security Agency, along with over a dozen staff at the White House National Security Council.
According to the BBC, Hegseth has also replaced several top Pentagon officers in recent months, including Air Force General C Q Brown and five other senior commanders in February.
