The Trump administration carried out an unusual reshuffle, replacing top-tier generals in succession amid a grave security crisis as it wages war with Iran.
It broke the traditional military practice that "in wartime, command continuity is maintained." Experts said the move was a powerful overhaul to realize President Donald Trump's defense philosophy and to improve the military's structure. Some analysts also noted the administration likely judged that, the more a crisis deepens, the more it must establish a command system that allows the Ministry of National Defense and the White House to coordinate policy organically.
As the Iran war that began on Feb. 28 entered its sixth week, on the 5th (local time) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed three top-tier generals after the outbreak of hostilities: Army Chief of Staff Randy George, Training and Doctrine Commanding General David Hodne, and Army Chief of Chaplains William Green.
George, who was dismissed on the 2nd, is a field-oriented veteran commander with extensive combat experience in major conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Appointed in 2023, he was forced to take off the uniform even though more than a year remained in his term under regulations. In a farewell email, George said, "Our (U.S.) soldiers are truly the best in the world," adding, "They deserve leaders who are rigorously trained, courageous, and of excellent character."
The Ministry of National Defense did not officially specify concrete and clear reasons for the dismissals. However, local outlets largely assessed that it was not a reprimand for poor operations. Instead, they evaluated that policy disagreements had widened between the military and the administration over the military's direction and a revamp of the personnel system.
Some in the American conservative camp believe the U.S. military became overly politicized under a past administration. They have consistently argued that the so-called woke culture and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies were indiscriminately combined, gravely damaging lethality and real-world combat readiness to completely overwhelm the enemy. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, since taking office, has likewise repeatedly expressed his intent to abolish excessive DEI policies in the military and reshape the force to be "combat power-centered."
According to multiple local media reports, Hegseth recently refused final approval of a list of general officer promotions that included many Black and female officers. With the final authority sending it back, personnel decisions that considered race and gender underwent a full review. During this process, George, who oversaw the Army, was said to have had serious policy disagreements with Hegseth.
Reuters and others reported that George sought a formal meeting with Hegseth to defend the promotion results that had come up through the existing personnel system and to maintain the military's organizational independence, but was refused and dismissed immediately. It is seen as reflecting a political will to perfectly align the entire military personnel system and organizational philosophy with the current administration's governing line, beyond fragmentary evaluations of individual generals' operational performance or specialties. It suggests the Trump administration views internal reform and restoring discipline within the military as an urgent and major state task on par with the physical war to subdue external enemies.
The political outlet Axios reported that in the roughly one year since the launch of the second Trump administration, 13 senior generals and admirals have been forced to retire or effectively pushed out of the chain of command. Among them were former Chairman Charles C.Q. Brown, who held the U.S. military's top uniformed post as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and former Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as CNO and the first female member of the JCS in U.S. Navy history.
Vacancies in the military leadership left by their departures have been reshaped with figures seen as able to align more closely with the current administration's operational and organizational direction. Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who succeeded George as Army chief of staff, is regarded as one of Hegseth's closest aides, having served as the secretary's senior military advisor. He is also a field and combined-operations commander who previously led the 82nd Airborne Division and served as commanding general of the U.S. Eighth Army in Korea and chief of staff of the Combined Forces Command.
Given that recent military responses to Iran have been executed rapidly with the White House, the Ministry of National Defense, and the JCS leadership at the core, it appears aimed at making the wartime command chain shorter and tighter. The operation to rescue U.S. military crew members inside Iran was also reportedly overseen directly by Hegseth and JCS Chairman Dan Caine as President Trump watched.
Experts said that, after the wave of resignations in the military leadership, how the U.S. military demonstrates operational capabilities in the Iran war will likely be an important test of public trust. Changing wartime leadership is considered an exceptional step even by the U.S. military's long-standing traditions and historical practices. Concerns over core personnel in the military organization are being directly transferred into distrust. According to polling indicators released this year by the conservative-leaning Ronald Reagan Institute, the public's once-strong trust in the U.S. military fell sharply from the 70% range in 2018 to 49% this year. The institute assessed this as "a sign that social anxiety toward national security institutions is rising."
Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in a recent statement, "If uncritical loyalty to an administration's line, rather than military expertise, becomes the top criterion for promotion, elite talent with superior intellectual capacity will increasingly avoid military service." He added, "As a result, this could directly lead to the U.S. military's long-term qualitative decline and a fundamental security gap."