Following the dismissal of Attorney General Pam Bondi, the immediate resignation of the Chief of Staff of the US Army, General Randy George, was also announced.
The decision was requested directly by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who, according to sources, considered it an obstacle to his plans for the development of the military.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced that George “will be retiring from his duties as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army, effective immediately.” He added that the Department of Defense is grateful for his decades of service and wished him well in the future.
According to CBS News sources, Hegseth intends to have the position filled by a figure better suited to implement President Donald Trump's vision for the military. A senior Defense Department official said that "the time had come for a change in direction."
George will be replaced by the current vice chief of staff, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, a former military aide to Hegseth. Parnell described him as “a proven leader with decades of operational experience and the secretary’s full confidence.”
George was nominated to the position by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2023, which would allow him to remain in office until 2027. His departure comes just days after Hegseth's decision to lift the suspension of a crew that was caught flying over Kid Rock's Nashville home last weekend.
The suspension, announced by the military, was rescinded by Hegseth with a message on the social network X: 'No punishment. No investigation. Move forward, patriots.'
According to inside sources, however, George's retirement is not related to this case.
Meanwhile, George is not the only one to lose his position in the military. According to The Washington Post, two other officers have also been dismissed: General David Hodne, who headed the Army Training and Transformation Command, and Major General William Green, head of the Army Chaplain Corps.
During his tenure, Hegseth has dismissed more than a dozen senior military officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown, the chief of naval operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, General James Slife, and the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse.