WP: Head of Defense Intelligence Agency Was Fired From Pentagon

Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, the head of the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, has been fired, as his agency had previously been skeptical about the consequences of US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Sources of The Washington Post reported that the decision was made by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

According to the WP, the reason for Kruse’s resignation was a ‘loss of confidence’ – a wording that the Pentagon chief has used before when dismissing officials and military personnel.

The Defense Intelligence Agency under Cruz’s leadership concluded in its assessment of the June strikes on Iran that they had only set back Iran’s nuclear program by a few months.

This conclusion sharply contradicted the public statements of Hughes and US President Donald Trump.

In June, the Pentagon launched a criminal investigation into the leak of an Intelligence Agency report that stated that damage to Iranian nuclear facilities as a result of US air strikes had not led to their complete destruction. Hagseth did not disclose the details of the investigation, but confirmed the existence of a classified assessment and its results.

He stated that the intelligence findings had a ‘low level of confidence.’ These words came after President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the media reports fake.

“The damage to the facilities was moderate to severe, and we believe it is likely that they are severe and destroyed,” Gagset said.

Kruse is the latest senior US defense official to lose his job since the start of the Trump administration. Other agencies, including the State Department, have also been hit by massive layoffs.

On June 22nd, 2025, the US Army struck a number of Iranian nuclear facilities in Iran: Fordow, Natanz, and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology/Research Center, which are key centers for uranium enrichment in Iran.

The strike was carried out with the use of six GBU-57 heavy bombs dropped by B-2 Spirit bombers, as well as 30 Tomahawk missiles launched from submarines.

The operation took place against the backdrop of the Israeli invasion of Iran, which began on June 13th, and in response to Iran’s previous strikes against Israel.