Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has asked the U.S. Army’s top uniformed leader to step down from his position and take immediate retirement.

CBS News was first to report on April 2, citing anonymous sources, that Hegseth had requested Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step aside.

A Pentagon official familiar with the matter has since told The Epoch Times that the reporting of CBS News is accurate, but provided no additional details about what led to George’s ouster.

“General Randy A. George will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement following the earlier reports. “The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation. We wish him well in his retirement.”

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve has taken over the role vacated by George in an acting capacity.

George is a West Point graduate and highly decorated infantry officer who previously served in the first Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan. During President Joe Biden’s administration, George was a top military aide for then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in 2021 and 2022.

He then moved on to Army leadership roles, serving as the chief of staff of the Army from September 2023.

In February 2025, George held onto his post amid a flurry of firings of other top military leadership by Hegseth. These included Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the top uniformed officer in the U.S. Navy, and Gen. Jim Silfe, the No. 2 leader in the U.S. Air Force.

President Donald Trump also fired Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr., who had served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Biden.

The change in leadership comes as the Pentagon has deployed the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East amid ongoing hostilities with Iran. However, the Trump administration has left it unclear whether there are plans to deploy ground troops to Iran.

In an update on the conflict delivered in a national address on April 1, Trump told Americans to expect further military action in the coming weeks.

“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” Trump said, adding, “we’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”

In a post on X, Hegseth echoed the sentiment, writing, “Back to the Stone Age.”