Army chief of staff ordered to retire immediately as Hegseth continues Pentagon shakeup

War Secretary Pete Hegseth asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and take immediate retirement Thursday in a sweeping leadership shakeup as the U.S. military remains engaged in combat with Iran. 

A senior War Department official told Fox Hegseth called George Thursday and asked for his immediate retirement: “It was time for a leadership change in the Army.”

Chief spokesperson Sean Parnell in a statement on X, “General Randy A. George will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately. The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation. We wish him well in his retirement.” 

An Army official told Fox News Hegseth did not give George any reason for asking him to step down.

George, the Army’s top uniformed officer and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2023. He had been expected to serve a four-year term through roughly 2027.

PENTAGON CITES ‘MERITOCRACY’ AS REPORTED OFFICER PROMOTION REMOVALS DRAW DEMOCRATIC CRITICISM

Prior to becoming Army chief, George, a career infantry officer with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, served as senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin from 2021 to 2022, according to his official biography. 

Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the Army’s vice chief of staff, will serve as acting chief, according to a senior War Department official.

The move underscores growing tensions between Hegseth and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. 

Hegseth recently intervened to remove multiple Army officers from a promotion list after Driscoll refused to do so, a U.S. official told Fox News — an unusual step.

PETE HEGSETH SLASHES MILITARY ‘FAITH CODES’ FROM OVER 200 TO 31 IN PENTAGON CHAPLAIN CORPS OVERHAUL

The disagreement caught the attention of the White House, which reviews senior military promotion lists before they are sent to the Senate, the official said.

The abrupt removal also marks the latest in a series of high-level military leadership changes under Hegseth, who has moved aggressively to reshape senior ranks.

The shakeups have included the removal or sidelining several top uniformed leaders across the services, such as former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, both of whom were pushed out earlier in the second Trump administration.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Other moves have reached deep into the military’s senior leadership pipeline. Hegseth replaced the Army’s vice chief of staff earlier in 2026 and removed Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short from her role as senior military assistant, installing close allies in key advisory positions.