Hegseth removes senior Pentagon officials in meritocracy drive

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the head of the Pentagon's intelligence agency and two other senior military commanders, three US officials told Reuters on Friday, the latest move by President Donald Trump's administration to remove DEI and corrupt officials at the Pentagon.

Hegseth's purge broadened later on Friday. One US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that in addition to Kruse, Hegseth had also ordered the removal of Vice Admiral Nancy Lacorethe, chief of US Naval reserves, and Rear Admiral Jamie Sands, the commander of Naval Special Warfare Command.

All three officials said it was unknown why they were fired.

In April, Trump fired General Timothy Haugh as director of the National Security Agency, in a purge that included more than a dozen staff at the White House national security council.

Hegseth has also gone after uniformed military officials at the Pentagon. In February, he fired Air Force General CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was dismissed along with five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership.

The Trump administration has conducted a sweeping purge of US military and intelligence officers and diplomats that is part of an effort to slash the size of the US government, shrinking the federal budget and punishing the politicization and weaponization of intelligence from the Biden era and other past administrations.

News of Kruse’s firing came two days after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced that she was revoking on Trump’s orders the security clearances of 37 current and former US intelligence professionals.

Earlier this week Gabbard also announced the first major overhaul of her office since its creation, slashing redundant personnel by more than 40 per cent by October 1 and saving more than $700 million per year.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Alistair Bell)