• The Pentagon has fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, amid a shake-up of military leadership.
• Kruse's removal follows a controversial intelligence assessment of U.S. strikes on Iran that contradicted President Trump's claims.
• The firings raise concerns about the politicization of intelligence within the Trump administration.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), in what is considered the latest move in a series of purges at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, largely attributed to President Donald Trump's administration. Kruse's dismissal has been linked to a leaked preliminary assessment which reported that U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites only postponed Tehran's nuclear capabilities by a few months, contrary to Trump's assertions that the strikes completely "obliterated" these sites, according to Reuters and HuffPost.

The reasons behind Kruse's firing remain publicly unexplained, reflecting a broader trend of removing officials whose analyses diverge from the administration's messaging. Senator Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, criticized the move, stating that it exemplifies the administration's troubling practice of treating intelligence assessments as "a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country", according to Reuters and Los Angeles Times.

This recent change follows the firing of other military leaders, indicating a significant restructuring within the U.S. military and intelligence apparatus. In addition to Kruse, Hegseth also dismissed Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, chief of the Navy Reserve, and Rear Admiral Milton Sands, commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, neither of which had their dismissals explained by the Pentagon. Such actions raise alarms over the potential politicization of the military and intelligence sectors, as noted in reports by BBC and Channel News Asia.

The general community's reaction to the ongoing purges highlights a growing concern regarding the independence of military and intelligence assessments. Previous firings have indicated a slope towards loyalty over expertise, as evidenced by the removals including General Timothy Haugh, former head of the National Security Agency, and General C.Q. Brown, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Such trends have only fueled doubts concerning the integrity of the U.S. military's nonpartisan role, according to Reuters, Le Monde, and India Times.