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Hegseth’s Pentagon Purge

Under the cover of the Iran war, Pete Hegseth moved to oust Army chief Randy George, a staunch ally of his archnemesis and untouchable Pentagon rival, Dan Driscoll. Was it a well-calculated plot, a sign of his juice, or maybe a signal that J.D. Vance has lost some of his foreign policy sway?

Pete Hegseth
Between his boyish looks; his aw-shucks, nice-guy attitude; and his headline-grabbing attempts to transform the Army into a futuristic force, it was easy to see why Dan Driscoll was getting far kinder treatment than the ragey, abrasive Hegseth. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Julia Ioffe
April 9, 2026

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Last week, while the United States was still very actively at war with Iran, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the head of the U.S. Army, Gen. Randy George. Firing the head of the U.S. military’s largest branch in the middle of a war was a stunning move, but the real shocker to those in the know was that George lasted as long as he had. (The Pentagon declined to comment and referred me to spokesman Sean Parnell’s tweet announcing the forced retirement and wishing George well.)