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By ROSS IBBETSON, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Published: | Updated:
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.
General Randy George attends the Heroes ceremony for Medal of Honor recipient retired Army Captain Larry L. Taylor at Conmy Hall, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Arlington, Virginia, United States on September 6, 2023
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provides updates on the continued military operations on Iran 2during a press briefing on the Iran war at the Pentagon on March 19
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.
Born and raised in Iowa, George enlisted in the Army in 1982 and graduated from West Point in 1988.
He served as the senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin from 2021 to 2022 after decades of service, including in the first Gulf War, as well as later in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A highly decorated officer, George has earned the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, two Army Distinguished Service Medals, four Defense Superior Service Medals, four Legions of Merit, four Bronze Stars, and a Purple Heart.
George’s firing comes as the war in Iran remains extremely volatile with no end in sight.
Donald Trump vowed in a prime-time address Wednesday to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’, claiming the conflict would wrap within two to three weeks.
US Air Force crew chiefs performing pre-flight checks on a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber during Operation Epic Fury, on March 17
Smoke rises over residential area following the US and Israeli attack in Tehran, Iran on April 1
US. Sailors and Marines aboard USS Tripoli (LHA 7) arrived in the US Central Command area of responsibility, March 27
An E-2D Advanced Hawkeye prepares to launch from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) during Operation Epic Fury
Oil prices spiked on the news as the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude flows, remains strangled by the Islamic regime.
The Trump administration says that it is negotiating with Iran – claims which Tehran has rejected.
Trump has suggested in recent days he would be prepared to quit the war without securing the Strait, leaving it to Arab and European allies.
The Pentagon has meanwhile furnished the President with audacious plans to seize Iran’s uranium with thousands of Marines and paratroopers now in the region.
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