Hegseth ousts Pentagon’s chief planner as renewed action against Iran looms, source says

By Zachary Cohen, Brad Lendon, CNN

Washington (CNN) — US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed out the Pentagon’s top planning officer as President Donald Trump weighs new strikes against Iran, a source familiar with the situation tells CNN.

Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, who held the role of director for strategy, plans and policy, also known as J5, for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is abruptly leaving the position, a spokesman for Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine confirmed.

No reason was given for Sylvia’s dismissal, and it’s unclear who will take over his responsibilities. CNN has reached out to Hegseth’s office for comment.

His dismissal is the latest in a long line of senior officers who have left the Pentagon under the Trump administration and since Hegseth assumed the role, enacting significant cuts to the top of military ranks.

According to the Joint Chiefs, the J5 role is a strategic role focused on advising plans for US engagement internationally.

“The Joint Staff J5 proposes strategies, plans, and policy recommendations to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to support his provision of military advice across the full spectrum of national security concerns to the President and other national leaders and to ensure those recommendations are informed by a larger strategic context – coordinated with interagency and alliance partners – account for the view and requirements of the combatant commanders, and assess risk in executing the National Military Strategy,” the Joint Chiefs’ website says.

Sylvia, who was formerly commander of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, was nominated for the position by former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin near the end of the Biden administration.

By Wednesday evening, Sylvia’s biography had been removed from the Joint Chiefs’ website.

“The Chairman, the Joint Staff, and the Joint Force extend our deepest gratitude to Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia and his family for their 32 years of distinguished service to our nation. We wish him and his family the best as they graduate to new opportunities and the next chapters of their lives,” a spokesperson for the Joint Staff said.

Sylvia’s removal comes at a crucial time for the Pentagon. As CNN reported, two US officials told CNN earlier this week that US forces in the Middle East are prepared to launch new, potentially major, military operations against Iran “within 96 hours of receiving” an order from Trump.

“It will be a big effort,” one of the officials told CNN. That view has been echoed by other current and former US officials familiar with internal military planning discussions — some of whom say it is a question of when, not if, Trump will issue a go-order. They believe it could come any time before the end of the year, though most likely after the US midterm elections.

Officials say that Trump has not made up his mind on what he will do after the midterms but that he appears to be leaning toward ordering major action. But officials also caution that Trump has appeared in the past to lean toward certain actions only to back off at the last moment.

Trump has stated previously that no attack would come before Tuesday’s midterms.

Sylvia joins a list of top Pentagon officials and officers dismissed during Hegseth’s tenure as defense secretary. Prominent among those was Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, who was forced to retire in April a day after Trump signaled he was planning to intensify the war with Iran.

He has also fired more than two dozen senior officers, pushed out a Navy secretary he clashed with, and reportedly intervened in promotions across the military branches directly shaping leadership.

Sylvia’s predecessor, Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, also left the position in October 2025 under pressure from Hegseth, sources told CNN at the time, adding that McGee had frequently “pushed back” against the defense secretary and Caine on issues ranging from Russia and Ukraine to military operations in the Caribbean.

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CNN’s Haley Britzky and Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.