Hegseth fires Jeffrey Kruse, Defense Intelligence Agency head, after leaked Iran damage assessment

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency, after that agency produced a controversial report — which was leaked to the press — assessing that U.S. airstrikes in June didn’t completely destroy Iran’s nuclear program.

A senior defense official told The Washington Times that “Lt. Gen. Kruse will no longer serve as DIA director,” but offered no further details.

The initial damage assessment from the DIA, which was leaked just days after the June 21 U.S. airstrikes on Iran, said that Iran’s nuclear program was set back only a few months as a result of the attacks. That contradicted public statements from President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials from both of those nations.

Mr. Hegseth pushed back on the initial report and specifically asserted that the U.S. operation devastated the Iranian nuclear enrichment site at Fordo. Officials said at the time of the leak, it was far too early to draw any firm conclusions about the extent of the damage. Mr. Hegseth and other administration officials also blasted those who leaked the report.

“And given the 30,000 pounds of explosives and capability of those munitions, it was devastation underneath Fordo, and the amount of munitions, six per location,” Mr. Hegseth said on June 25. “Any assessment that tells you it was something otherwise is speculating with other motives, and we know that because when you actually look at the report, by the way, it was a top secret report, it was preliminary, it was low confidence.”

Other officials have said they believe Iran’s nuclear program suffered much more significant damage. Rep. Michael McCaul, Texas Republican and chairman emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Threat Status weekly podcast recently that the U.S. strikes set Iran’s program back by “one to two years.”

In his role as head of the DIA, Lt. Gen. Kruse was the Department of Defense’s senior military intelligence official. He has served in the Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere.

Before heading the DIA, Lt. Gen. Kruse was an adviser for military affairs for the Director of National Intelligence, according to his official Air Force biography.