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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and immediately retire, CBS News reported.Hegseth reportedly wants someone in this role who fully implements the vision he and President Trump have set for the military.
“We are grateful for his service, but it is time for a change in leadership in the Army,” a senior Defense Department official told CBS News.
“George is a West Point graduate and career infantry officer who served in the Army for decades. It was commissioned in 1988 and deployed during Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom. Prior to his appointment as Chief of Staff of the Army, George served as Deputy Chief of Staff from 2022 to 2023 and as Senior Military Assistant to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin from 2021 to 2022 during the Biden administration.George was nominated for Army Chief of Staff by then-US President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2023. A typical four-year term would have kept him in the position until 2027.Current Deputy Chief of Staff, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who previously served as military aide to Hegseth and commanding general of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division from 2022 to 2023, will serve as acting Chief of Staff of the Army. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said LaNeve is “a battle-tested leader with decades of operational experience whom Secretary Hegseth fully trusts to execute this administration’s vision flawlessly.”
Hegseth has previously fired more than a dozen senior military officers. The decision to fire George was not related to the recent incident in which Hegseth overturned the military’s decision to suspend the crew of a plane that flew near the home of American artist Kid Rock in Nashville. After the suspension and administrative review, Hegseth wrote on his personal account The overthrow of George was independent of this event.
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