The Trump administration fired Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, U.S. officials said Monday, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continued his purge of military leaders who have been targeted by conservatives.

Chatfield, who served in the Navy as the U.S. representative to NATO’s military committee, has joined a list of female leaders and people of color who have been fired. It includes the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. CQ Brown Jr.; the Navy’s former chief, Adm. Lisa Franchetti; and the former Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Linda Lee Fagan.

Also fired recently were Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, who was commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, and Gen. James Slife, the former vice chief of staff of the Air Force.

Unclear Who Gave the Order

It was unclear whether President Donald Trump or Hegseth gave the order to fire Chatfield. Last week Trump removed several national security officials, including Haugh, after meeting with Laura Loomer, the far-right activist and conspiracy theorist.

The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on Chatfield’s firing, which was first reported by Reuters.

In a December letter to Hegseth, a conservative watchdog group included Chatfield in a list of “woke ideologues” who the group said should be purged. Before moving to NATO, Chatfield was the first woman to lead the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

Haugh was ousted after Loomer accused him and his deputy of disloyalty, according to U.S. officials and a social media post by Loomer on Friday. He had been chosen by Gen. Mark A. Milley, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whom Loomer called a traitor.

The firings of senior military leaders have rattled lawmakers and been condemned by former defense secretaries as “reckless.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Helene Cooper
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