Hegseth fires head of Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse - WAPO
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the latest…in a wider purge of national security agencies’ top ranks, according to two people familiar with the matter. [Hegseth cited his] “loss of confidence,” a catchall term Hegseth has used to justify the sacking of other senior military officers this year…Others removed include Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, the chief of the Navy Reserve, and Rear Adm. Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversees Naval Special Warfare Command, according to…people familiar with the matter, who…spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the Trump administration’s targeting of current and former intelligence officers.
Why did Hegseth “lose confidence” in the Lt. General? It’s pretty frickin’ clear; the DIA assessed in a preliminary report that the attack on Iran’s nuclear program “set it back by months” rather than “obliterated it,” as Hegseth and Trump had claimed.1
This firing — on top of many prior purges of top military brass and FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors who participated in January 6 or Trump/Russia investigations leave us much less safe than we were on January 19, 2025.
This firing is of a piece with the recent firing of the head of the Bureau of lbor Statistics a couple of weeks back. She had the temerity to report that job creation data was well below expectations. As I wrote at the time:
Trump Shoots the Messenger when Bureau of Labor Statistics Shows Dismal Jobs Report
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday removed the head of the agency that produces the monthly jobs figures after a report showed hiring slowed in July and was much weaker in May and June than previously reported.
Trump…alleged that the figures were manipulated for political reasons and said that Erika McEntarfer, the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden,[1] should be fired. He provided no evidence for the charge [but said] “I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY…She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified…In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”…The charge that the data was faked is an explosive one that threatens to undercut the political legitimacy of the U.S. government’s economic data, which has long been seen as the “gold standard” of economic measurement globally. Economists and Wall Street investors have for decades generally accepted the data as free from political bias…
McEntarfer’s firing was roundly condemned by a group that included two former BLS commissioners, including William Beach, who was appointed by Trump to the position. They particularly objected to the charge that the data was altered for political reasons.
“This rationale for firing Dr. McEntarfer is without merit and undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics that are a cornerstone of intelligent economic decision-making by businesses, families, and policymakers,” the statement from the group, the Friends of BLS, said…
“Firing the Commissioner ... when the BLS revises jobs numbers down (as it routinely does) threatens to destroy trust in core American institutions, and all government statistics,” Arin Dube, an economist at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, said on X. “I can’t stress how damaging this is.”
We’ve gone forever relying on this data produced by non-partisan professionals. Sure, hacks like Rush Limbaugh used to try to raise doubts about healthy economic indicators when Obama was in the White House, but no one but the blowhard’s followers paid any attention to that nonsense.
But if and when Trump lackeys are placed in these data-reporting positions – on employment, inflation, or anything else – who’s gonna believe the numbers businesses, investors, and policy-makers rely on?
Where the hell are our congresspersons? Where the hell are our corporate titans? Where the hell is George W. Bush whose nominee to be UN Ambassador got raided yesterday?
We’re in the streets; where the hell are they?
U.S. initial damage report: Iran nuclear program set back by months, not obliterated - WAPO, 6/25/25 https://wapo.st/4lLNMrR