Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth embarked on a firing spree Thursday, ousting the Army’s highest-ranking officer and two other senior leaders.
The defense secretary asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and take immediate retirement, sources familiar with the decision told CBS News on Thursday.
Current Vice Army Chief of Staff Gen. Chris LaNeve, Hegseth’s former military aide, appears poised to replace George.
After reports broke that Hegseth, 45, asked George, 61, to resign, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on X, “General Randy A. George will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately. The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation. We wish him well in his retirement.”
Hegseth wants to replace George, who was nominated to a four-year term in 2023 by then-President Joe Biden, with someone who will put Trump and Hegseth’s own Army agenda into action, one of the sources told CBS News.
“We are grateful for his service, but it was time for a leadership change in the Army,” a senior Defense Department official said of the Purple Heart recipient.
Two other Army generals, Gen. David Hodne and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., were also given the boot, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Beast.
Hodne, 56, was named the Commanding General of the Transformation and Training Command in October. He has been awarded four Bronze Star Medals, an Army Distinguished Service Medal, three Legions of Merit, and a Purple Heart for his service, among other recognitions.
Hodne’s command had been created under George’s watch, according to The Washington Post, while the deeply religious Hegseth has aimed to overhaul how military chaplains operate.
Green Jr. was appointed as the 26th chief of Army chaplains in December 2023. The Baptist minister has been awarded the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal for his service.
Evangelical Christian Hegseth, who has fired over a dozen senior military officers during his rocky tenure, is expected to select LaNeve to take George’s place as Army chief. Any nominee would have to be confirmed by the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority.
LaNeve, 58, caught Trump’s attention shortly after his inauguration, when he dialed in via video call to the Commander in Chief’s Ball, CNN reports.
“Sir, on behalf of the brave men and women who serve under my command and the thousands of dedicated service members that are part of the joint team in Korea, congratulations on your victory as the 47th President of the United States,” LaNeve said. “Welcome back, Mr. President.”
Trump went on to praise LaNeve, asking, “Is this man central casting or what?”
“They’re not going to play games with you. That’s good,” Trump said, according to an official transcript of the event obtained by the outlet. “I like to see that. Nobody is playing games with that man.”
The Army chief of staff oversees Army operations and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which provides military advice to Trump.
A new report claims George was ousted because he and Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll refused to remove two Black and two female officers from a list of military members to be promoted to become one-star generals.
George and Driscoll defied Hegseth, according to The New York Times, and cited the long and exemplary service of the four officers as justification for their being on the list for promotion.
The publication said most of the 29 other officers on the list for promotion are white men, leading some senior military officials to question whether the four officers were being singled out for their race or gender.
Military officials told the Times that Hegseth refused a request from George for a meeting two weeks ago to discuss the four officers pinpointed to be booted from the promotion list. George also reportedly wanted to raise the issue of Hegseth “interfering unnecessarily” with Army personnel decisions at the meeting.
A report by NBC on Thursday claimed Hegseth had either blocked or delayed promotions for over a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military.
Hegseth had allegedly targeted officers based on their race, gender, or links to Biden administration policies. His personal intervention in the promotion process has raised concerns, with one U.S. official stating, “There is not a single service that has been immune to this level of involvement by Hegseth.”
Hegseth has been a vocal proponent of ending “wokeness” and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs at the Pentagon.
Speaking in February 2025, Hegseth said, “I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘our diversity is our strength.’”
George’s ousting comes just days after Hegseth, who’d like to be called “Secretary of War,” overrode Army officials and lifted the suspensions issued to Army pilots who participated in a helicopter stunt at MAGA rocker Kid Rock’s home after flying over the “No Kings” protests in Nashville.
Hegseth’s decision to oust George had nothing to do with the helicopter stunt, one source told CBS News.
The day before Hegseth fired George, Trump gave a rambling address about his month-old war with Iran, claiming the “core objectives” of his campaign are “nearing completion,” without offering a clear endgame for the conflict, which has so far claimed the lives of at least 13 U.S. service members.
The speech drew several military officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, but it’s unclear whether George was in attendance.
Photos posted Thursday by West Point showed George speaking to cadets at the military academy.
“The @USArmy Chief of Staff, Gen. Randy George, shared experience-driven guidance with cadets preparing to lead. Thank you for investing in our future Army leaders,” the academy’s X account wrote.
A West Point graduate himself, George served in the first Gulf War, the Iraq War and in the war in Afghanistan. From 2021 to 2022, George served as the senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is despised by Trump’s MAGA base.
George is the latest in a long line of military officers removed under Hegseth, joining figures like Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. CQ Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Slife—all of whom were nominated to their posts under the Biden administration.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Pentagon and the Army for comment.
