Hegseth Fires a Top General

Earlier this week, the Pentagon’s chief planner, Army Lieutenant General Brett Sylvia, was ousted from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No explanation was given. This comes at an inopportune moment, given that President Trump may be planning to relaunch the war on Iran. Sylvia, the former commander of the 101st Airborne Division, becomes the latest in a long line of senior officers who have been shown the door since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived at the Pentagon almost two years ago.

No replacement for Sylvia was named, and it is unclear who will take over his responsibilities. In the past, the deputy or vice director of the relevant directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would fill the role on a temporary basis until the president nominated a candidate for Senate confirmation. Sylvia is the second person to be pushed out of the job of director of the Directorate for Strategy, Plans, and Policy at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, known inside the military as the J5, in the past year. His predecessor, Army Lieutenant General Joseph McGee, was forced to retire. “Now is not the time when you’d want to lose the J5,” a former Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. “This person would serve as a critical link between the operational force, the department policy, and the White House.”

Sylvia’s departure presages more upheaval in the Pentagon’s upper echelons as Trump looks to break the stalemate with Iran and weighs renewed combat after Tuesday’s elections. Trump had considered striking Iran before the midterms, my colleagues and I previously reported, and U.S. Central Command, which is running the war effort, has prepared a variety of strike options. Those plans range from a short burst of strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear sites to a longer campaign aimed at pushing Iran’s economy closer to the brink—and Iran’s government to the negotiating table. But the president has not yet decided how to proceed, and any strikes are unlikely to happen before next week. The war, which began in February, has been relatively quiet in recent months as U.S. and Iranian forces face off in the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for global energy supplies. Iran effectively seized control of the strait shortly after the war began, while the U.S. has countered with a blockade of Iranian shipping.

The webpage naming Sylvia as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has already been taken down. Sylvia did not respond to a request for comment.

If the war has gotten bogged down, Hegseth’s campaign of firings at the Pentagon has not. Sylvia is at least the fifth general pushed out or fired this year, each holding key positions within the military. Hegseth forced out General Randy George, chief of staff of the Army, at the height of the U.S. strike campaign in Iran, despite the Army’s role in restocking key munitions, which are now in short supply. That same month, Hegseth removed General David Hodne, the head of the Army’s Transformation and Training Command, and ousted Major General William Green Jr., the head of the Army Chaplain Corps. And in June, Army General Chris “C.D.” Donahue stepped down as the head of U.S. Army Forces in Europe and Africa amid disagreements with Hegseth. Donahue was widely seen as one of the Army’s rising stars—a Delta Force leader who was considered a top candidate for Army chief of staff or even chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In all, at least 26 admirals and generals have stepped down or been pushed out since Hegseth took control of the Pentagon less than two years ago.

The Pentagon has rarely provided rationales, leaving those still in place to guess about the causes. The reasons, according to officials, tend to fall into one or more of three categories: previous work on policies that Hegseth considers “woke,” such as promoting diversity; perceived closeness to a former general considered persona non grata by the current administration, such as former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley; or being suspected by Hegseth of leaking to the press. The message received through the ranks is that anyone viewed as insufficiently enthusiastic about Hegseth’s political views or priorities is at risk.

Department of Defense officials told me that the rationale for firing Sylvia mirrored that of others pushed out before him: Hegseth lost confidence in him, and he did not get along with the top civilian in charge of policy, Elbridge Colby, the No. 3 leader at the Pentagon, who is in charge of policy. In September, during his State of the Force speech, Hegseth said that the Pentagon had fired approximately 10 percent of its generals and admirals, and was eliminating another 10 percent of senior-officer positions.

“The Chairman, the Joint Staff, and the Joint Force extend our deepest gratitude to Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia and his family for their 32 years of distinguished service to our nation,” a spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. “We wish him and his family the best as they graduate to new opportunities and the next chapters of their lives.”

Last year, the conservative activist Laura Loomer called in a social-media post for the Trump administration to fire Sylvia’s son Gavin, an employee of the Department of Homeland Security as a data analyst at FEMA, charging that he had posted an inflammatory message on Instagram shortly after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. In the post, Loomer referred to the general as well, saying: “His father is a Major General in the United States Army and currently serves at the Pentagon. He was nominated for a third star by Joe Biden.” Her screed also took aim at Gavin Sylvia’s brother and grandmother. “These people hate us,” she wrote. “They don’t belong near the levers of our National Power.” She ended the post by saying Hegseth “should also review the employment of Gavin’s father, MG Brett Sylvia.” Gavin Sylvia was placed on administrative leave, The Washington Post reported.

A 1994 graduate of the United States Military Academy, in West Point, Sylvia spent much of his career in the Army’s airborne and air-assault units. He commanded the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. And he deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the 101st. His military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, six Bronze Star Medals—including one with valor—and the Purple Heart.

Missy Ryan and Marie-Rose Sheinerman contributed reporting.