The Trump administration is experiencing a category five shitstorm in its military and intelligence agencies. This disruption comes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s rejection of a national report on Iran’s nuclear capabilities. This dismissal resulted in disastrous outcomes. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sacked the last five top military officials including Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
The DIA’s initial intelligence assessment concluded that Iran’s nuclear program had been set back by only a few months due to US strikes. This conclusion consistent undercut Trump’s claims, in which he declared the Iranian program “totally destroyed…never to be heard of again.” The president cannot be pleased by that assessment. This frustration points to a dangerous pattern of him invalidating and firing career government officials when their analyses don’t match his preconceptions or desires.
Trump does have a proven track record of taking swift action against officials when presented with data that undermines his narrative. Like, for example, the last time he freaked out and fired the guy in charge of the data after a bad jobs report. This most recent round of firings brings into stark relief the danger inherent in Trump’s hostile posture toward military and intelligence officials who offer negative assessments.
So Hegseth found a way to kick Kruse to the curb. In addition, he purged Gen Tim Haugh from heading the National Security Agency, and Vice Adm Shoshana Chatfield, a senior US official at NATO. Hegseth publicly scolded the media for reporting on the White House’s initial damage assessment. He thought the more important takeaway was how to change the discussion from the bad news that the results suggest.
“You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want to call it obliterated – choose your word. This was an historically successful attack.” – Pete Hegseth
Those high-profile firings of top analysts signal an increased polarization between military intelligence and the Trump administration. Like Trump, Hegseth seems eager to jettison high-ranking officials who bring bad news or bad analysis. The DIA’s scathing judgment has caused havoc with the defense agency’s own ranks. It has begun to expose serious questions about the faithfulness and reliability of intelligence within this administration.