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  6.  » Pete Hegseth fires highest-ranking US Army officer in the middle of Iran war

Ross Ibetson – Daily Mail April 2, 2026

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted the highest-ranking US Army officer amid the Iran war.

General Randy George, a Biden appointee, was told to step down and take immediate retirement, CBS News reported.

A Pentagon official said: ‘We are grateful for his service, but it was time for a leadership change in the Army.’

George is understood to have clashed with the administration’s vision for the Army.

Vice Chief of Staff General Christopher LaNeve, a former aide to Hegseth, will be acting chief of staff.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that LaNeve is ‘a battle-tested leader with decades of operational experience and is completely trusted by Secretary Hegseth to carry out the vision of this administration without fault.’

Hegseth’s decision comes as 50,000 US troops are deployed in the Middle East ahead of a possible ground invasion in Iran.

George is the senior-most uniformed officer in the Army – a four-star general and the 41st Chief of Staff responsible for organizing, training and equipping more than one million soldiers, though not a field commander directing tactical strikes.

George reports to General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, the civilian head of the branch; and Hegseth, whose highest military rank was as an Army major.

George was confirmed by the Senate in 2023 and is significantly short of completing the typical four-year term.

Hegseth has purged more than a dozen senior officers, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General C.Q. Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff General James Slife and the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse.

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