Pentagon fires US Defence Intelligence Agency chief Jeffrey Kruse

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has fired the head of the Defence Intelligence Agency, a senior defence official and a senator said on Aug 22, weeks after the agency drafted a preliminary report that contradicted President Donald Trump’s contention that Iran’s nuclear sites had been “obliterated” in US military strikes.

Air Force Lieutenant-General Jeffrey Kruse is the latest senior Pentagon official, and the second top military intelligence official, to be removed since Mr Trump’s return to office.

General Timothy Haugh, head of the National Security Agency,

was ousted this spring

after a right-wing conspiracy theorist complained about him.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also fired Vice-Admiral Nancy Lacore, chief of the Navy Reserve, and Rear-Admiral Jamie Sands, a Navy Seals officer who oversaw Naval Special Warfare Command, a Defence Department official said on Aug 22. The Pentagon did not explain the sackings.

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the firing of Lt-Gen Kruse, who had a long career of non-partisan service, was troubling.

“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,” Mr Warner said.

The senior defence official, who was not authorised to speak publicly, said that Lt-Gen Kruse would no longer serve as the intelligence agency’s director, although it was not clear if he would be offered a different position in the Air Force or if he would retire.

Two congressional officials said lawmakers were notified on Aug 22 that Mr Hegseth had fired Lt-Gen Kruse because of “a loss of confidence” in the senior officer.

Days after US military strikes hit three of Iran’s nuclear sites in June, the Defence Intelligence Agency

drafted a preliminary assessment

that suggested Tehran’s nuclear programme was set back only by months. Reports about the assessment by CNN and The New York Times prompted a fierce backlash from the White House.

In the days that followed, the White House and senior intelligence officials tried to paint a different picture, of a more successful operation against Iran.

The agency’s deputy director, Ms Christine Bordine, will serve as acting director until Lt-Gen Kruse’s successor is approved by the Senate. NYTIMES