US defense intelligence chief ousted after Iran strike assessment: Report

ISTANBUL

The director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, has been removed from his post, a CBS report said Friday.

A senior defense official confirmed Kruse’s dismissal, saying only: “Lt. Gen. Kruse will no longer serve as DIA Director.”

Christine Bordine, the agency’s deputy director, has been appointed acting chief, according to the report.

The DIA is one of the United States’ main military intelligence services, providing analysis to the Pentagon and White House. The agency was responsible for the preliminary assessment of US airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, a campaign that marked a major escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran back in June.

According to CBS, the DIA’s assessment concluded that the strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear program only by several months and noted that some enriched uranium stockpiles had been moved before the attack.

That assessment conflicted with President Donald Trump’s televised address in which he declared Iran’s nuclear capabilities “completely and totally obliterated” and delayed by “decades.”

The apparent contradiction drew the administration’s ire, CBS reported, and may have played a role in Kruse’s dismissal.

Intelligence committee leaders in Congress were informed of the firing but not given a reason, according to the report.