With ousting of admiral to NATO, Trump administration has fired at least nine senior officers
The Pentagon on Tuesday confirmed Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield has been removed from her position as the U.S. military representative to NATO's military committee, making her at least the ninth senior military officer
forced out by the Trump administration
.
"Secretary [Pete] Hegseth has removed U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield from her position as U.S. representative to NATO's military committee due to a loss of confidence in her ability to lead," Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. "The Defense Department is grateful for her many years of military service."
The military committee at NATO is made up of senior military officers, usually three-star admirals or generals, from NATO member countries who represent their chiefs of defense.
Chatfield had been targeted in the past for comments she made about diversity, equity and inclusion. During Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville's monthslong hold on general officer nominations in 2023, he reposted on social media a list from the conservative group American Accountability Foundation singling out officers who espoused what the group alleged as "woke" values.
Chatfield was singled out in part because of a presentation she gave on Women's Equality Day in 2015 that included a slide
that said
"investing in gender equality and women's empowerment can unlock human potential on a transformational scale."
Chatfield's firing marks at least the ninth firing of a senior military officer and the fourth female senior officer forced out by the Trump administration.
Others already fired include Adm. Linda Fagan, the commandant of the Coast Guard; Gen. C.Q. Brown Jr, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs; Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the Chief of Naval Operations; Gen. James Slife, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force; Lt. Gen. Joseph B. Berger III, Judge Advocate General of the Army; Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer, Judge Advocate General of the Air Force; Lt Gen. Jennifer Short, Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense; Gen. Timothy Haugh, Director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner posted on social media that he is "deeply disturbed" by Chatfield's firing.
"Trump's relentless attacks on our alliances and his careless dismissal of decorated military officials make us less safe and weaken our position across the world," Warner said.
Hegseth, even before he was
President Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon
, had advocated for firing any officers involved in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
"First of all, you've got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs," Hegseth said on 'The Shawn Ryan Show' last November. "But any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI woke s*** has got to go."
Chatfield, according to her biography from the Navy, graduated from Boston University in 1987 and went on to become a helicopter pilot, flying SH-3, CH-46D, and MH-60S. She later commanded the Helicopter Combat Support Squadron HC-5 and Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron HSC-25 as well as led a joint provincial reconstruction team in Farah Province, Afghanistan, in 2008.
Her most recent assignment, before heading to NATO, was president of the Naval War College, where she was the first woman to hold the position.
Chatfield's firing also comes as the Trump administration weighs plans about the footprint of U.S. forces in Europe and is pressuring members of NATO to spend more on their own defense.
"We have not said in any way that we're abandoning our allies in Europe," Hegseth said in February during a visit to Europe, adding that there had been no decisions on troop levels.
"But there is a recognition that the ambitions of the communist Chinese are a threat to free people everywhere, to include America's interests in the Pacific," Hegseth said in February.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
29 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Trump's former Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, says the US-China deal is still far from comprehensive
President Donald Trump's former Secretary of Commerce doesn't think the trade deal between the US and China is close to being "done." "It looks as though they made a fairly modest deal, mostly focusing on export controls on both the US side and the China side," Wilbur Ross, who was part of the first Trump administration, told Business Insider. "So it's far from a comprehensive deal." On Wednesday morning, Trump said on Truth Social that the deal with China is now "done." "It seems more or less to be reiterating the deal they thought they had set a few weeks ago," Ross said of the deal. China and the US reached a trade framework agreement on Tuesday, after their respective negotiation teams held two-day talks in London. The current Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, is part of the US trade talk team. "Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China," Trump added in all caps in the post. "Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!)." Ross said that the deal has not addressed many important issues, including intellectual property, so it may be too soon to call this a victory. "The Chinese side has been very careful to say it still needs to be approved by President Xi," said Ross. "When we negotiated with the China side last time, it wasn't unusual for the trade negotiators to agree to something, and then they would go back to Xi, and he would not go along with it." This year in duties on imports from China reached up to 245% on some goods. On May 14, many of the tariffs on China were reduced to 30% for 90 days, with a deadline of August 12. A 10% baseline tariff is still in place on the rest of the world, while additional higher tariffs on 75 countries have been paused until July 9. Ross said that it would be important to complete at least a few deals with key trading partners before the tariff pause on 75 countries expires. "I think that will help clear the air for the stock market because it'll start to show a direction and that there is a way to get all these things resolved," he said. "It's very important from a bond market point of view and from an equity market point of view."
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Treasury Secretary Suddenly Backtracks on Major Tariff Deadline
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that Donald Trump is again intending to move the goalposts for his global tariff policy. The United States is fast approaching the end of the president's 90-day pause on his sweeping global tariffs on July 9, but while testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, Bessent said that 'Liberation Day' Part 2 may not come to pass so soon. 'I would say, as I have repeatedly said, that there are 18 important trading partners. We are working toward deals on those. And it is highly likely that those countries that are negoti—or trading blocs, in the case of the EU—who are negotiating in good faith, we will roll the date forward to continue good-faith negotiations,' Bessent said. 'If someone is not negotiating, then we will not,' he added. The Trump administration has not even vaguely approached its initial promise to crack 90 deals in 90 days, only announcing two unfinished deals, with the U.K. and China. Crucially, Trump's paltry set of terms with China isn't even a deal. China referred to it as merely a 'framework,' while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it was a 'handshake for a framework' that both Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping need to approve. Trump seems intent on running the country's economic policy in 90-day increments, prolonging economic uncertainty that has roiled the markets and sent prices rising. But the president's failure should hardly come as a surprise, as the stated purpose of his tariffs—not to ensure economic prosperity but to bring U.S. trading partners to their knees—defies all logic and reason. With only two half-deals made, and a suddenly unclear horizon, it's not clear how TACO Trump will ever reach the goal of 200 trade deals he'd claimed to have made in April. Especially considering that there aren't even that many countries.
New York Post
38 minutes ago
- New York Post
Congress to grill Kathy Hochul on NY sanctuary laws — and local GOP offers spicy advice over what questions they should ask
ALBANY – State Republican lawmakers offered advice to their congressional counterparts ahead of Gov. Kathy Hochul testimony on Thursday over sanctuary policies – outlining a list of questions to fling at the Democrat. The GOP legislators sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer ahead of Hochul's trip to Washington, DC where she'll be grilled by a congressional panel on the Empire State's sanctuary laws. 'Governor Hochul's sanctuary state policies have played a direct role in the ongoing migrant crisis throughout our state, despite bipartisan concern including repeated warnings from New York City Mayor Eric Adams,' Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R-Staten Island) wrote in the letter, cosigned by various other New York GOP lawmakers. Advertisement 'We believe that Governor Hochul must be held accountable for her failure to reverse the state's sanctuary policies and recklessness with taxpayer dollars,' Tannousis continued. Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to testify on capitol hill Thursday on New York's sanctuary city laws and its handling of the influx of migrants. Hochul is voluntarily appearing before the House committee on Capitol Hill and will testify alongside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Advertisement In their letter, the Republican state lawmakers ask the House Republicans to ask Hochul to outline: Why New York continued to accept migrants during the height of the crisis The vetting process for migrants and concerns about public safety A shady $432 million no-bid contract awarded to DocGo to help mitigate the crisis Her justification for roughly $4 billion the state has spent dealing with migrants Why some municipalities weren't reimbursed with costs associated with the migrants Tannousis said he wants the House Oversight committee to follow through after Hochul's testimony to deliver 'accountability.' The governor has tried to navigate a vague middle ground when it comes to the state's sanctuary policy, which is still based on a 2017 executive order issued by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo who is now running for mayor of New York City. Advertisement Assemblyman Michael Tannousis and other Albany Republicans wrote a letter to the House panel suggesting areas where they should hammer Hochul. Michael McWeeney Hochul had promised specifics and clarity over her guidance on how New York would work with federal immigration authorities. Instead, her office only provided a list of four broad categories of situations that would trigger state law enforcement to work with the feds, such as if ICE has a judicial warrant or when relevant to investigating another crime committed in New York. Hochul had previously said she was 'happy to go down' to DC for the hearing. 'I'll tell them our policy in the state of New York is not to use state resources, our state police, to enforce the civil infractions,' Hochul said earlier this year.
