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A second senior Air Force general has reportedly been forced out at the Pentagon

Days after the Air Force Chief of Staff announced an early retirement, local media reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, the military’s top intelligence officer.

NICHOLAS SLAYTON
AUG 22, 2025 3:24 PM EDT


Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin. Composite by Task & Purpose. Photo by Saul Lowe, AFP via Getty; Air Force photo by Eric Dietrich

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth fired the military’s top intelligence officer, according to the Washington Post. Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, is the second high-profile Air Force general this week to be relieved or abruptly announce their retirement.

The services top general, Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, announced Monday he was retiring after only two years in the position, a job which is nearly always held by the same officer for a four-year term. Several news sources reported that Allvin was being forced out by Hegseth, but would be allowed to announce his retirement. Unlike Kruse, the Air Force has said Allvin will remain as chief of staff until his replacement is confirmed by the Senate.

The Washington Post first reported Kruse’s firing on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Pentagon confirmed Kruse’s exit in a curt one-sentence statement: “Lt. Gen. Kruse will no longer serve as DIA Director,” a senior defense official said in a statement.

His firing comes two months after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth criticized a DIA report that said the large American airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, trumpeted by Hegseth and President Donald Trump as a historic success, damaged but did not destroy the installations.

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