DIA chief fired over Iran nuclear assessment, Bordine named head

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, amid mounting friction over the agency’s initial assessment of the damage to Iran’s nuclear program from U.S. strikes. The removal comes after a preliminary DIA finding suggested that Tehran’s nuclear facilities were set back only by months, a conclusion that appeared to undercut the president’s public assurances that those sites had been obliterated.

Kruse will no longer serve as DIA director, with acting leadership taken by Deputy Director Christine Bordine. The move marks another upheaval in the upper ranks of the military and intelligence communities as the administration navigates questions about how intelligence is produced and presented to policymakers and the public. The DIA assessment, which highlighted limited impact on Iran’s overall program, had already drawn sharp pushback from the White House after President Trump asserted that Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities had been “obliterated” and that the strikes had delayed Tehran’s program by “decades.”

The decision to remove Kruse underscores broader tensions surrounding intelligence assessments and political...