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
The Hill
29 minutes ago
- The Hill
Newsom: Pentagon lying over LA to justify National Guard deployment
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday accused the Defense Department of 'lying to the American people' in justifying deploying National Guard troops to the state to quell Los Angeles protests against federal immigration raids, asserting that the situation intensified only when the Pentagon deployed troops. 'The situation became escalated when THEY deployed troops,' Newsom posted to X, referring to the Pentagon. 'Donald Trump has manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions. He clearly can't solve this, so California will.' Newsom was responding to a post from DOD Rapid Response on X, a Pentagon-run account, which claimed that 'Los Angeles is burning, and local leaders are refusing to respond.' President Trump on Saturday deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area amid the ICE protests, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying the decision was made due to 'violent mobs' attacking 'Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations.' While protests have intensified in recent days, devolving at times into violence, the majority of gatherings have been largely peaceful. Still, California National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles on Sunday morning, with some 300 deployed on the ground later that day at three locations: Los Angeles proper, Paramount and Compton. White House officials have sought to highlight images of burning vehicles and clashes with law enforcement to make the case that the situation had gotten out of control. 'The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They're insurrectionists. They're bad people. They should be in jail,' Trump told reporters on Monday. In addition, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has threatened to deploy approximately 500 U.S. Marines to the city, with U.S. Northern Command on Sunday confirming the service members were 'prepared to deploy.' The use of American troops has rankled California officials, who have said the federal response 'inflammatory' and said the deployment of soldiers 'will erode public trust.' Newsom also has traded insults with Hegseth, calling him 'a joke,' and that the idea of deploying active duty Marines in California was 'deranged behavior.' 'Pete Hegseth's a joke. He's a joke. Everybody knows he's so in over his head. What an embarrassment. That guy's weakness masquerading as strength. . . . It's a serious moment,' Newsom said in an interview with podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen. The tit-for-tat continued when chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell then took to X on Monday to attack Newsom. 'LA is on FIRE right now, but instead of tackling the issue, Gavin Newsom is spending his time attacking Secretary Hegseth,' Parnell wrote. 'Unlike Newsom, [Hegseth] isn't afraid to lead.' Newsom, who has formally demanded the Trump administration pull the National Guard troops off the streets, has declared the deployment 'unlawful' and said California will sue the Trump administration over its actions. 'There is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles, and to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation,' David Sapp, Newsom's legal affairs secretary, wrote in a letter to Hegseth on Sunday. 'Accordingly, we ask that you immediately rescind your order and return the National Guard to its rightful control by the State of California, to be deployed as appropriate when necessary.' In the past 60 years, a U.S. president has only on one occasion mobilized a state's National Guard troops without the consent of its governor to quell unrest or enforce the law. That was in 1965, when former President Lyndon Johnson sent Guard members to Selma, Ala., to protect civil rights protesters there.
San Francisco Chronicle
30 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
AP PHOTOS: Trump's new travel ban takes effect, and some protest
President Donald Trump's ban on travel to the United States took effect Monday. Demonstrators outside Los Angeles International Airport held signs protesting the ban affecting citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries. At Miami International Airport, passengers moved steadily through an area for international arrivals. Tensions are escalating over the Trump administration's campaign of immigration enforcement. The new ban applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don't hold a valid visa. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Mass. Sen. Warren: DOGE accessed ‘sensitive' student loan data at Education Dept., calls for probe
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she wants to know how the quasi-governmental Department of Government Efficiency gained access to 'sensitive' student loan information at the U.S. Department of Education. On Monday, Warren and U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, both Democrats, called for the agency's acting inspector general to find out how that breach happened. They were joined by Democratic senators from eight states, including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Warren said lawmakers learned of the potential breach of systems at Federal Student Aid after DOGE, which was helmed until recently by tech titan Elon Musk, infiltrated the agency. In response, Education Department officials revealed that DOGE workers 'supported' a review of the FSA's contracts. As a part of that review, one employee was granted 'read-only' access to two internal systems that held sensitive personal information about borrowers. The agency said it had since revoked that access. But, according to Warren, it did not explain why that access had been revoked, or whether the employee had continued access to other databases. 'Because of the [Education] department's refusal to provide full and complete information, the full extent of DOGE's role and influence at ED remains unknown,' the lawmakers wrote in a June 8 letter to René L. Rocque, the agency's acting inspector general. That 'lack of clarity is not only frustrating for borrowers but also dangerous for the future of an agency that handles an extensive student loan portfolio and a range of federal aid programs for higher education,' the lawmakers continued. Warren, Markey and their colleagues have called on Roque's office to determine whether the department adhered to the Federal Privacy Act, which dictates how the government can collect and use personal information. They also asked Roque to 'determine the impact of DOGE's new plans to consolidate Americans' personal information across government databases.' 'It won't end well for Trump' if he does this amid LA protests, ex-GOP rep says All Ivy League schools are supporting Harvard lawsuit — except these 2 Embassies directed to resume processing Harvard University student visas Over 12,000 Harvard alums lend weight to court battle with Trump in new filing Markey: Trump using National Guard in LA to distract from big cuts in 'Big Beautiful Bill' Read the original article on MassLive.
