Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth just fired several high-ranking Pentagon officials. 

Fox News reports that Hegseth did so on Friday.

As we will see, among those fired is Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who was the leader of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

🚨 BREAKING - PURGE: SecDef Pete Hegseth has officially fired the Biden head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Jeffrey Kruse...

...Kruse is the one who produced the "preliminary" report on the Iranian strikes that were LEAKED to the media, per WaPo.

NOW it makes sense. pic.twitter.com/znXNCRw3Lm

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 22, 2025

Here's what we know:

Kruse's firing comes after the recent leak of the preliminary bomb-damage assessment from the United States' strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

The New York Post reports:

The DIA’s classified, “low confidence” estimation of the effectiveness of the June 21 airstrikes on Iran’s Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear facilities was leaked to CNN three days after American B-2 stealth bombers and cruise missiles bombarded the sites.The document, which an official described as being based only on limited intelligence gathered the day after the strike, reportedly indicated the Iranian regime could bring its nuclear program back online as quickly as one to two months. The preliminary assessment also suggested that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed by the airstrikes.

To put it mildly, Trump and his administration were not happy about the leak.

An investigation was launched into it, and it now appears that we are seeing the result of this investigation, namely the firing of Kruse and others.

In the meantime, Trump and his administration worked overtime to convince the public that the strikes on Iran were a success.

No confidence

The official reason for Kruse's firing is that the Trump administration has "a loss of confidence" in him.

Hegseth, for his part, provided a statement on the matter.

The New York Times reports:

The senior defense official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said that General
Kruse would no longer serve as the intelligence agency’s director, although it was not clear if
he would be offered a different position in the Air Force or if he would retire. Two
congressional officials said lawmakers were notified on Friday that Mr. Hegseth had fired
General Kruse because of “a loss of confidence” in the senior officer.

As mentioned, Hegseth also fired others in relation to this incident.

The Times writes:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also fired Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, who was chief of the
Navy Reserve, as well as Rear Adm. Jamie Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversaw Naval
Special Warfare Command, a Defense Department official said on Friday. The Pentagon
offered no immediate explanation why.