Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, removing the Army’s top officer in the latest shake-up of military leadership amid the war in Iran.
Hegseth asked George to step down and retire immediately, a Department of Defense official confirmed Thursday to MS NOW. Christopher LaNeve, a former Hegseth military aide, is expected to serve as acting chief of staff.
CBS was the first to report the ousting. The Pentagon confirmed George’s departure Thursday in a social media post, without further detail.
“The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation. We wish him well in his retirement,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on X.
Two additional Army generals were also fired alongside George, two defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Washington Post amid the shakeup. They are Gen. David Hodne, head of Army Transformation and Training Command, and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., the 26th chief of chaplains.
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George was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2023 and served about three years of what would have typically been a four-year position. His term was set to end in 2027.
Before assuming the Army’s top post, George built a decadeslong career in service. A graduate of West Point, George deployed during Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He also served as senior military assistant to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Republican Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia called George’s ousting “concerning” after he learned of the news during an interview on Newsmax.
“I’d be very curious to hear why,” McCormick said. “I mean, Gen. George is a brilliant mind.”
Hegseth has now removed more than a dozen senior military leaders across multiple branches, including Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Slife, marking an unprecedented turnover at the highest levels of the armed forces.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at CNN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.
Julia Jester covers politics for MS NOW and is based in Washington, D.C.