The very senior official is leaving his post as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army, immediately”, wrote Sean Parnell, the Pentagon spokesperson, wishing him “a happy retirement.”
He did not give a reason for this sudden departure.
CBS News, which revealed the information, cites an anonymous American official saying that Pete Hegseth wants to appoint someone in his place who will be able to implement the vision of Donald Trump and his Secretary of Defense for the Army.
General Randy George, a graduate of the prestigious West Point military academy who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was appointed to this position in 2023, during the term of Democratic President Joe Biden.
“Politization” of the army
It is yet another forced departure among the highest-ranking officials of the American army since Donald Trump returned to power. The American president, without explanation, dismissed Charles “CQ” Brown, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces at the beginning of 2025, to replace him with Dan Caine. Since then, the chiefs of the navy, coast guard, NSA espionage agency, as well as many others, have been pushed out by the government of Donald Trump.
According to the Washington Post and CBS, two other generals, David Hodne, in charge of the Army’s Command for Transformation and Training, and William Green Jr, at the head of the military chaplains’ corps, have also been sidelined along with General George.
Pete Hegseth, leading a ministry that he renamed “Ministry of War”, assured that he simply chooses the chiefs he wants to lead the world’s largest military budget.
Opposition Democratic lawmakers have expressed concerns about a potential politicization of the army, traditionally more isolated from political battles than the rest of the American state apparatus.
