CBS News reported, citing informed sources, that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked the Army Chief of Staff, General Randy George, to resign and submit to “immediate retirement.”
One source noted that Hegseth “wants someone in this position who carries out President Donald Trump and Hegseth’s vision for the military.”
It is noteworthy that George previously served as the Senior Military Assistant to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin between 2021 and 2022 during the Joe Biden administration, after a long military career that lasted for decades.
George is a career infantry officer and graduate of the Military Academy at West Point. He participated in the first Gulf War and later served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The term of the Army Chief of Staff is usually four years, and Biden had nominated him for this position, before the Senate confirmed him in 2023, which means that his term was supposed to last until 2027.
According to available information, the Army’s current Deputy Chief of Staff, General Christopher LaNeve, who previously served as military aide to Hegseth and commanded the 82nd Airborne Division between 2022 and 2023, is expected to be considered as a potential replacement.
In a related context, Hegseth dismissed more than 10 senior military officers, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General C. Q. Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchitti, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force General James Slive, in addition to the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Jeffrey Cruz.
The request for George to step down came after a post by Hegseth on the X platform in which he overturned the suspension of a military flight crew who had flown near Kid Rock’s home in Nashville last weekend.
After the military announced the suspension of the pilots and the opening of an administrative investigation, Hegseth retracted the decision and wrote: “No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots.”
One source confirmed that the decision to request George’s resignation is not related to the helicopter accident.
