Overview
- Lt. Gen. Joe McGee left his role as the Joint Staff’s director for strategy, plans, and policy earlier this month and is retiring, according to official statements.
- CNN reports, citing unnamed sources, that McGee was pushed out after months of tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine.
- Sources say McGee frequently pushed back on policy related to Russia, Ukraine, and Caribbean operations and that leaders faulted his pace on key tasks.
- Reporting links his departure to a stalled promotion, noting he was nominated last year under President Joe Biden but not renominated by the current administration.
- McGee’s exit is described as part of a broader leadership reshuffle under Hegseth, with more than a dozen senior officials replaced or retiring, including CQ Brown, the Chief of Naval Operations, and the heads of the NSA and DIA.