Weekend headlines have been taken over by more Trump administration house-cleaning and firings at the Pentagon, as late Friday it was reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed a general whose agency's early intelligence report downplayed the destructive power of the Trump-ordered June strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse has been ousted from his role as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). The official reason disclosed is "loss of confidence". While the DIA is lesser known among the nation's major intel agencies like the CIA or NSA, it coordinates all military intelligence among US armed forces, and is mostly staffed by civilians - but under DoD leadership.
Hegseth also removed Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, head of the Navy Reserve, and Rear Adm. Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL in charge of Naval Special Warfare Command, from their posts, according to officials.
While Gen. Kruse's firing from the DIA chief seems retributive in nature, the reason for the dismissal of the Navy admirals remains unclear.
It further comes as the past week saw dozens of current and former national security personnel get their security clearances revoked. Trump admin critics have decried what they call a pattern of retribution against those seen as disloyal, and that it's all politically motivated.
As for the circumstances surrounding the change in DIA leadership, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had following the 12-day war on Iran declared that US bunker-buster bombs and accompanying strikes had "completely obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilities.
But a leaked DIA report in the immediate aftermath suggested the uranium enrichment program was still intact, contradicting Trump. CNN had been the first to report in late June info from leaked assessment as follows:
The assessment, which has not been previously reported, was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm. It is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by US Central Command in the aftermath of the US strikes, one of the sources said.
The analysis of the damage to the sites and the impact of the strikes on Iran’s nuclear ambitions is ongoing, and could change as more intelligence becomes available. But the early findings are at odds with President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also said on Sunday that Iran’s nuclear ambitions “have been obliterated.”
One unnamed defense official quoted in the report had made clear that centrifuges are largely "intact." The unnamed person had described: "So the (DIA) assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops."
The growing list of firings under Hegseth:
The White House acknowledged the existence of the assessment but vigorously rejected the conclusions, describing it as mere raw and unreliable info that was in no way conclusive.
Trump had in the quick aftermath of the US bombing raid on Iran essentially declared mission accomplished and got Israel and Iran to abide by a ceasefire, which has held since. But Trump has used the narrative of having destroyed Iran's nuclear program to claim that Tehran can no longer pose a nuclear threat, and that no further action is needed.