A three-star Army general in a key position on the Joint Chiefs of Staff is retiring after less than 18 months on the job, the latest senior officer to leave a high-ranking Pentagon position early in their term amid reports of disagreements with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Separately, a Navy admiral who was in charge of the Office of Naval Research, a major Pentagon research arm, has been replaced.
The two moves do not appear to be directly connected.
CNN first reported that Army Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee had left his position as director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Joint Staff earlier this month due to tensions with Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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McGee reportedly “pushed back” against Hegseth and Caine on several issues, including Russia, Ukraine, and military strikes in the Caribbean. CNN also said that “some in the office of the Secretary of Defense” questioned McGee’s ties to the previous secretary, Lloyd Austin, and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley. Hegseth and President Donald Trump have both made no secret of their personal animosity for Milley and Austin, going so far as to have Milley’s official portrait removed from the Pentagon.
In a statement to Task & Purpose, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell disputed CNN’s characterization of McGee’s departure from the Joint Staff.
“General McGee is retiring, and the War Department is grateful for his service,” said Parnell, who used the secondary title for the Defense Department announced by President Donald Trump on Sept. 5.
McGee is the latest in a growing series of high-ranking generals and admirals to retire early or be dismissed in Hegseth’s Pentagon.
Those dismissals began days into Hegseth’s arrival as Secretary of Defense with the firing of then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Charles Q. “CQ” Brown Jr. and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti.
Close to a dozen more senior officers have been removed from senior jobs since, most recently, Adm. Alvin Holsey, head of U.S. Southern Command, announced earlier this month that he too would retire after being in the job for just over a year. While no official reason has been given for Holsey’s decision to step down, The Atlantic reported that he had privately voiced concerns to the Pentagon’s senior leadership about U.S. military strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean.
McGee is at least the second general on the Joint Staff — the team of senior leaders who support the service chiefs — to lose their job. The New York Times reported in July that Army Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II, who had served as director of the Joint Staff, would also retire after Hegseth decided not to promote him.
Naval Research Admiral replaced
Separate from McGee’s retirement, Rear Adm. Kurt Rothenhaus has been replaced as the head of the Office of Naval Research by a civilian whose experience in government appears to be limited to work for the then-Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, according to The Bulwark and USNI News.
Task & Purpose has confirmed that Rothenhaus is no longer serving as head of the Office of Naval Research, and that Rachel Riley is now in that role. Riley was a partner at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, and has a doctorate degree in philosophy from the University of Oxford, according to a Navy spokesperson.
For his next assignment, Rothenhaus will lead Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, which oversees the Navy’s cyber warfare capabilities, said a Navy official, who added that Rothenhaus will be at the forefront of naval innovation in his new role.
Rothenhaus became Chief of Naval Research in June 2023, according to his official biography, which still lists him as the head of the Office of Naval Research.
He was commissioned in 1992 from the University of South Carolina. He later earned a master’s degree in computer science and a doctorate in software engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.
Rothenhaus went on to serve as the combat systems/C5I officer on the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, chief engineer on the destroyer USS O’Brien, and served on the staff of Destroyer Squadron 15. He also completed an Individual Augmentee tour in Baghdad, Iraq.
UPDATE: 10/31/2025; this story was updated with information about rear Adm. Kurt Rothenhaus’ next assignment.
