The Trump administration has fired the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, in the latest in a series of moves to purge the U.S. intelligence community and install Trump loyalists in top positions, lawmakers said Aug. 22.
Kruse’s departure was first reported by The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources who didn’t immediately specify a reason for the dismissal other than “loss of confidence.” The Post later reported that two other military leaders were pushed out after Kruse: Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, the chief of the Navy Reserve, and Rear Adm. Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversaw the Naval Special Warfare Command.
Kruse’s firing follows a preliminary assessment from the DIA in June that concluded that U.S. military strikes against three of Iran’s main nuclear sites did not demolish them as President Trump had claimed, but only resulted in setting the Iranian nuclear program back by several months. That prompted a strong pushback from the Trump Administration and subsequent intelligence findings by the Defense Department and CIA that the damage was more significant.