Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has removed Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia as director of the Joint Staff's Directorate for Strategy, Plans and Policy, the post known as the J5, a defense official told the AP on October 28, after The Atlantic first reported the ouster. No replacement was named. Sylvia is the second J5 director pushed out under Hegseth; his predecessor, Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, was forced to retire in October 2025. The firing came as Trump weighs renewed strikes on Iran after the November 3 midterms, the AP reported.
The first accounts gave no reason. “No explanation was given,” The Atlantic wrote, and the AP's defense official said “no reason has been given for the firing.” A Joint Staff spokesperson first extended “our deepest gratitude to Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia and his family for their 32 years of distinguished service to our nation,” then withdrew it: “Upon further review, we determined that the statement did not appropriately reflect the full circumstances,” CBS News reported.
The Pentagon's account came next, from an anonymous official. The official told CBS News that Sylvia was accused of leaking classified information about the Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine war, that he failed three polygraph tests about sharing classified information with the press, and that the case had been referred to the Justice Department. Fox News reported the same account and added that he was accused of meeting journalists outside the Pentagon. Spokesperson Sean Parnell, without naming Sylvia, said that “following an extensive Air Force OSI investigation, the Department took necessary personnel action to protect sensitive information,” and, “We vowed to find you, and we meant it.”
That account is disputed. “Two other Pentagon sources confirmed to CBS News that the firing was related to the polygraph tests, but said those accusations are not true,” CBS reported. Fox said Sylvia did not respond to its request for comment, and no charge has been reported. The Atlantic, as Fox summarized it, cited sources who said Hegseth had lost confidence in Sylvia amid tensions with Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby. Accounts of his role also differ: CBS said he was coordinating the Iran battle plan, while Fox's official said he was not a central planner of the war.
Trump weighed in on October 29. “She's got problems. She's gonna have big problems. We're very much looking for leakers,” he told reporters, the Independent reported, appearing to refer to Sylvia as “she.” The New Republic noted that Laura Loomer had called for Sylvia's removal over his son's social media post more than a year earlier; the Pentagon's stated reason is the leak investigation, and no outlet reviewed here links the firing to her post.
Sylvia is among nearly two dozen generals, admirals and other military leaders fired, forced to retire or otherwise pushed out under Hegseth, “almost all of which have not been publicly explained by the Pentagon,” the AP reported (see Hegseth Fires the Army Chief of Staff During an Active War for Questioning the Iran Campaign's Strategic Goals). Whether this firing was a response to real leaks or part of that pattern is not established by the reporting so far.