A 3-star general serving on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff has been pushed out of his place following months of sustained tensions with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in response to folks acquainted with the matter. The general’s stalled promotion additionally contributed to his early retirement, the sources stated.
Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, the director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Joint Staff, left his place earlier this month, the sources stated. They added that McGee had continuously “pushed back” in opposition to Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine on points starting from Russia and Ukraine to navy operations within the Caribbean. The sources famous that McGee was nominated by former President Joe Biden almost a yr in the past for a promotion to function director of the Joint Staff however was by no means renominated by the present administration.
McGee’s main accountability within the position was to advise Caine on long-term navy technique together with weighing the dangers of potential actions and planning for disaster contingencies.
“He has had a target on his back for a while now,” one of many sources stated of McGee. Two different sources stated there have been discussions internally way back to the spring about pushing out McGee.
Caine and Hegseth additionally received pissed off with McGee at occasions as a result of they believed he moved too slowly, one of many sources stated.
At the identical time, some within the Office of the Secretary of Defense noticed McGee as too near the “old guard” of the Pentagon, significantly former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley and former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, one of many sources stated.
McGee didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated in an announcement that “General McGee is retiring, and the war department is grateful for his service.” He denied NCS reporting that Hegseth and McGee had clashed.
“Lt Gen. JP McGee will retire after nearly three years of outstanding leadership and service on the Joint Staff. We are grateful for his 35 years of honorable and dedicated service to the Nation,” a Joint Staff spokesperson informed NCS. “We owe him a great debt for his service and it is regrettable anonymous sources would put the focus anywhere else.”
Hegseth has pushed out greater than a dozen senior navy officers since taking workplace in January, together with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs CQ Brown, the Chief of Naval Operations, the administrators of the National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency, and the highest uniformed attorneys for the Army and Air Force.
All had been suspected of being insufficiently aligned with Hegseth’s agenda, NCS has reported.
Some of the senior navy officers, together with the previous director of the Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Doug Sims and the commander of US Southern Command Adm. Alvin Holsey, have been allowed to retire, NCS has reported.
Earlier this month, Holsey provided to resign amid stark disagreements with Hegseth and Caine over the legality of the US navy’s strikes on suspected drug traffickers within the Caribbean, NCS has reported. Like with McGee, Hegseth had been pissed off that Holsey tended to maneuver too slowly and noticed him as an impediment, in response to sources. Holsey introduced on October 16 that he could be retiring in December, only one yr into the job.