3-star general retiring after reported friction with Hegseth, Caine

A three-star general who worked on the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Joint Staff, Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, is retiring from the role after reported friction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Dan Caine. 

“General McGee is retiring, and the War Department is grateful for his service,” chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed Thursday in a statement to The Hill.

McGee, who retired from his post earlier this month, was the director for strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Staff, advising Caine on long-term military strategy. 

McGee objected to Hegseth and Caine on a range of issues, including the Trump administration’s strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and the Russia-Ukraine war, according to CNN, which first reported on McGee’s departure. 

McGee was nominated to be the director of the Joint Staff but was never renominated during the current administration, according to CNN. 

Parnell pushed back on the report, saying “CNN’s claims regarding his retirement are 100 percent fake news.” 

News of McGee’s ouster comes as the Trump administration has steadily escalated its actions and rhetoric toward the Venezuelan government, quietly shifting roughly 10,000 troops in addition to warships, fighter jets and a nuclear submarine to the Caribbean in support of what officials say are counternarcotics operations. 

It also marks the latest senior official Hegseth has pushed out since taking office in January. More than a dozen senior military officials have been fired, forced to retire or moved to less visible roles since the start of the year, including former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. CQ Brown; the first female chief of naval operations, Adm. Lisa Franchetti; the directors of the National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency; the former director of the Joint Staff; the head of U.S. Southern Command (Southcom); and the top uniformed lawyers for the Army and Air Force.

The most recent senior departure before McGee came earlier this month when Southcom head Adm. Alvin Holsey announced he would retire two years ahead of schedule, reportedly due to him and Hegseth at odds over the U.S. mission in the Caribbean. 

McGee’s and Holsey’s unexpected departures mean the U.S. military has further lost voices that may offer a counterbalance to the Trump administration’s increasing bombing of vessels off the Venezuelan coast that it claims are transporting drugs — most recently on Wednesday — escalating a standoff with the government of President Nicolás Maduro.