Randy A. George, Army Chief of Staff

Dismissal date: 2 April 2026. George was the Chief of Staff of the Army, thus the uniformed head of the largest US armed force, with some 450,000 soldiers on active duty. An infantry officer trained at West Point - the US Military Academy whose alumni include Dwight D. Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur - he had served in the first Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan, and had also been deputy chief of staff of the Army and military advisor to Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. His removal, which took place while the US was engaged in the war against Iran, appeared quite exceptional: the Army Chief of Staff still had more than a year left in his term and a change at the top in wartime is a very rare occurrence. The Pentagon spoke of retirement 'effective immediately' without explaining why.