Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has ousted the highest-ranking officer and two other senior officers in the Army.
The defense secretary asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and take immediate retirement, sources familiar with the decision told CBS News on Thursday.
After reports broke that Hegseth, 45, asked George, 61, to resign, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on X, “General Randy A. George will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately. The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation. We wish him well in his retirement.”
Hegseth wants to replace George, who was nominated by then-President Joe Biden to a four-year term in 2023, with someone who will put President Donald Trump and Hegseth’s own Army agenda into action, one of the sources told CBS News.
“We are grateful for his service, but it was time for a leadership change in the Army,” a senior Defense Department official said of the Purple Heart recipient.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.
Two other Army generals, Gen. David Hodne and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., were also given the boot, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Beast.
Hodne, 56, was named the Commanding General of the Transformation and Training Command in October. He has been awarded four Bronze Star Medals, an Army Distinguished Service Medal, three Legions of Merit, and a Purple Heart for his service, among other recognitions.
Green Jr. was appointed as the 26th chief of Army chaplains in December 2023. He has been awarded the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal for his service.
George’s ousting comes just days after Hegseth, who’d like to be called “Secretary of War,” overrode Army officials and lifted the suspensions issued to Army pilots who participated in a helicopter stunt at MAGA rocker Kid Rock’s home after flying over the “No Kings” protests in Nashville.
Hegseth’s decision to oust George had nothing to do with the helicopter stunt, one source told CBS News.
Hegseth, who has fired over a dozen senior military officers during his rocky tenure, may turn to his former military aide Gen. Christopher LaNeve, currently the vice chief of staff of the Army, to fill the role, the outlet reports. Any nominee would have to be confirmed by the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority.
The Army chief of staff oversees Army operations and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which provides military advice to Trump.
The day before Hegseth sacked George, Trump gave a rambling address about his month-old war with Iran, claiming the “core objectives” of his campaign are “nearing completion,” without offering a clear endgame for the conflict, which has claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members.
The speech drew several military officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, but it’s unclear whether George was in attendance.
Photos posted Thursday by West Point showed George speaking to cadets at the military academy.
“The @USArmy Chief of Staff, Gen. Randy George, shared experience-driven guidance with cadets preparing to lead. Thank you for investing in our future Army leaders,” the academy’s X account wrote.
A West Point graduate himself, George served in the first Gulf War, the Iraq war and in the war in Afghanistan. From 2021 to 2022, George served as the senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is despised by Trump’s MAGA base.
George is the latest in a long line of military officers removed under Hegseth, joining figures like Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. CQ Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Slife—all of whom were nominated to their posts under the Biden administration.
