By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, Lili Bayer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, who holds a senior position in NATO, has been fired as part of what appears to be an expanding national security purge of top officials by the Trump administration, three sources told Reuters on Monday.
The information was not immediately confirmed by the Pentagon. However, the sources told Reuters that allies had been notified that Chatfield had been removed from her job.
Chatfield, the U.S. military representative to the NATO Military Committee, is one of only a handful of female Navy three-star officers and was the first woman to lead the Naval War College, a job she held until 2023.
The firing is the latest to rock the Pentagon after Thursday’s removal of General Timothy Haugh, the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command. For the Navy, it follows the firing of its top officer, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to become Chief of Naval Operations.
President Donald Trump’s administration has taken a cool view of NATO, as well as European allies, since taking office in January. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used his first trip to NATO headquarters in February to warn Europe against treating the United States like a “sucker” by making it responsible for its defense.
It was unclear if any official reason was given for Chatfield’s dismissal, or if it was related to any U.S. policy direction on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
One source said the motive may have been related to the Pentagon’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a recent Harvard Magazine interview, Chatfield sounded eager for a time when the qualifications of women in the military would not be held in suspicion.
The article cited one example when Chatfield, herself a helicopter pilot, led an MH-60S Sea Hawk expeditionary helicopter squadron in 2005-2006.
“A mid-grade sailor … asked, ‘Ma’am, can you fly one of those helicopters?’ And I chuckled and said, ‘Yes, actually it’s a prerequisite for this job!'” she was quoted as saying, adding that at the time she had been wearing her wings that showed she was a naval aviator.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in Washington and Lili Bayer in Brussels; Additional reporting by Andrew Gray in Brussels; Editing by Mark Porter and Matthew Lewis)
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