By Black Star News
Photos: YouTube Screenshot\Wikimedia Commons
Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who headed the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)—because, allegedly, Donald Trump didn’t like his assessment that the recent U.S. bombing of Iranian facilities did minimal damage, which contradicts Trump’s claims that the facilities were “completely and fully obliterated.”
Pentagon officials gave no reason for the firings but said there was a “loss of confidence,” in Lt. Gen Kruse, and that he “will no longer serve as DIA Director.” Kruse’s exit was the second high-profile one this week. Air Force Gen. David Allvin, announced Monday that he would retiring, but many believe he was forced out by Hegseth.
Friday, NBC News also reported that “Separately, a defense official confirmed to NBC News late Friday that Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, the chief of the Navy Reserve, and Rear Admiral Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversees the Naval Special Warfare Command, were also fired. The Post first reported those firings as well.”
Lt. Kruse’s ouster comes two months after Hegseth criticized DIA’s report, on ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’ which stated that the bombing did not destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities—as Trump and Hegseth glowingly claimed. Hegseth had complained about the report saying, “There’s low confidence in this particular report. It says in the report there are gaps in the information.”
Trump has a history of firing those who disagree with him—or who are minorities. As the military online outlet, ‘Tasks & Purpose’, notes: “Kruse and Allvin are the latest officials in a top military position to be removed from their jobs under Hegseth and Trump. In February, Trump fired several top military leaders who were women or non-white, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr., Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, and Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan. The Air Force’s second in command, Gen. James Slife, was also relieved. In April, Hegseth fired Vice Adm. Shoshanna Chatfield from her role as senior NATO planner, and Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, who was both the head of U.S. Cyber Command and oversaw the National Security Agency, was relieved of his command.”
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