Washington — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Pentagon’s top military planner, a Pentagon official told CBS News on Wednesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters, said Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia had been accused of misconduct for disclosing classified information related to the war in Iran. and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Sylvia failed three polygraph tests regarding sharing classified information with the press, the official said, adding that the case had been referred to the Justice Department.
Sylvia is the latest in a series of generals to be ousted, and her firing comes as President Trump considers further strikes against Iran in 2017. the war that lasted eight months.
Sylvia was removed as chief of strategy, plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is the second general to be removed from the post, known in military circles as “J5”, under Hegseth. His predecessor, Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, was forced to retire last October.
No replacement for Sylvia has been named, according to the Associated Press.
The shooting was reported earlier by The Atlantic.
A spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, “The President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Joint Force express our deepest gratitude to Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia and his family for their 32 years of distinguished service to our nation” and they “wish him and his family the best.”
Typically, the J5 Director and Staff are responsible for generating and coordinating military plans with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the President. Sylvia’s firing comes as Mr. Trump has repeatedly called for launching new military operations against Iran.
The president vowed to “finish the job” in Iran after launching war with Israel eight months ago and said further strikes were an option after next week’s midterm elections.
US officials have reportedly asked several Middle Eastern countries and regional allies to be prepared for a possible resumption of military action after Tuesday’s elections as well as the possibility that Iran will try to retaliate against them.
A third US aircraft carrier and thousands of additional troops are heading to the region.
Before coming to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Sylvia served as commander of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, until May 2025, according to her official biography, which has now been taken offline. He was also vice-director of J5.
He is the latest of about 20 generals, admirals and other military leaders to be fired, forced to retire or otherwise leave during Hegseth’s tenure. Almost none of these measures have been publicly explained by the Pentagon. This includes civilian secretaries of the Army and Navy as well as certain senior uniformed officers of the military services.
Hegseth said last month that he had ordered the Army to double reductions in the overall number of senior officers to 20% by Jan. 1, 2027. There are currently about 800 general and flag officer positions.
“I call this accountability and long overdue,” Hegseth told junior officers and enlisted leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico Sept. 30.
Some members of Congress criticized the cuts to the generals’ ranks, calling them a “purge” that would take years to rebuild.
“He has some sort of deep-seated grievance about leadership in the military,” Sen. Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, a former Navy combat pilot who has criticized Hegseth, said last month. “He’s purging a generation of great military leaders, and it’s going to take a generation to recover from that.”
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