Pete Hegseth fires Gen. Brett Sylvia, the Pentagon's top military planner

Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of War, on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, removed Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia from his post as director for strategy, plans and policy of the US Joint Staff, known as the J5. The directorate is responsible for drafting the US military's war plans, and its chief was fired as Donald Trump considers resuming attacks on the Islamic Republic after the congressional midterm elections.

A Defense Department official confirmed the dismissal and said no reason had been given. No successor to Sylvia has been named yet. A Joint Staff spokesperson thanked the general and his family in a statement for his 32 years of service. Sylvia previously commanded the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell and had headed the J5 since 2025.

A string of dismissals at the Pentagon

Sylvia is at least the second J5 director pushed aside under Hegseth. His predecessor, Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, was forced into retirement in autumn 2025. Nearly 24 senior US military commanders have now been fired, retired or reassigned under Hegseth, and the Pentagon has given no explanation for most of them. Hegseth has ordered the number of generals and admirals cut by 20 percent by 1 January 2027, calling the reduction a way of making commanders "accountable".

Mark Kelly, the Democratic senator from Arizona and a former Navy pilot, has accused Hegseth of carrying out vendettas against military commanders and said repairing the damage will take a generation.

A new attack on the Islamic Republic after the congressional elections

According to two diplomats, US officials have warned several Middle Eastern countries and regional allies to prepare for a renewed attack on the Islamic Republic after next week's midterm elections, and for possible retaliation. The diplomats said no final decision has been made. Eight months after the war began, Trump has said he will "finish" the Islamic Republic, and a third US aircraft carrier carrying thousands of fresh troops is heading to the region.

DIAR wrote earlier that the Islamic Republic has tied its fate to the outcome of Israel's election; now Washington's decision on a new round of strikes has also been pushed to the days after the congressional elections.

The dismissal of America's top war planner came on the eve of Trump's decision on whether to strike the Islamic Republic again.