WASHINGTON – 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, a U.S. senator said Aug. 22.
Kruse’s departure was first reported by The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources who didn’t immediately cite a reason for the dismissal other than “loss of confidence.”
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.
“Based on everything we have seen – and I’ve seen it all – our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-VA., immediately criticized the administration for Kruse’s ouster.
“The firing of yet another senior national security official underscores the Trump administration’s dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country,” Warner said in a statement. “General Kruse is a career military officer with decades of distinguished, non-partisan service to our nation, making this ouster all the more troubling.”
More: US strikes set Iran’s nuclear program back a few months, Pentagon assessment says
“It is perhaps unsurprising that General Kruse’s removal as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency comes on the heels of a DIA assessment that directly contradicted the president’s claim to have ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear program,” Warner said. “That kind of honest, fact-based analysis is exactly what we should want from our intelligence agencies, regardless of whether it flatters the White House narrative. When expertise is cast aside and intelligence is distorted or silenced, our adversaries gain the upper hand and America is left less safe.”
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that he was grateful to Lieutenant General Kruse for his decades of service and his strong history of apolitical engagement with the Intelligence Committee.”
“If the Administration has cause to fire Director Kruse, they must provide that information to Congress immediately,” Himes added. “Otherwise, we can only assume that this is another politically motivated decision intended to create an atmosphere of fear, something that chills the ability of the Intelligence Community to do its job and protect national security.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump admin fires head of Defense Intelligence agency, senator says
