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Get you up to speed: Hegseth fires Pentagon’s top military planner over what official says were leaks to media
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, the Pentagon’s top military planner, following accusations of misconduct related to leaking classified information regarding the Iran and Russia-Ukraine wars. The Department of Justice has been notified, and the situation stems from Sylvia’s failure of three polygraph tests regarding these allegations.
The Department of Justice is now involved in the investigation following the misconduct accusations against Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia. Pentagon officials indicated that no immediate replacement for Sylvia has been announced as the fallout from the leak investigation continues.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia following accusations of misconduct related to leaking classified information and failures in polygraph tests, with the matter referred to the Department of Justice for potential legal action. The Pentagon spokesperson stated that further comments would not be made to protect the integrity of the investigation, emphasising the seriousness of leaking classified information.
What remains unclear — The specifics of the allegations against Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia that led to his dismissal have not been disclosed.
Defense Secretary Hegseth dismisses Pentagon’s top military planner over leaks claims
Washington — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Pentagon’s top military planner, several sources confirmed to WTX US News late Wednesday.
A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters, said Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia was accused of misconduct for allegedly leaking classified information related to the Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Sylvia failed three polygraph tests about sharing classified information with the press, the official said, adding that the case has been referred to the Department of Justice.
Two other Pentagon sources confirmed to WTX US News that the firing was related to the polygraph tests, but said those accusations are not true.
Hegseth has made rooting out leakers at the Pentagon a priority, with sources telling WTX US News last month that high-ranking military officials were subject to polygraph tests. Three staffers from his office were escorted out last year amid a leak investigation, but the Pentagon never released the results of any investigation.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell did not name Sylvia by name in a statement on social media, but said that “following an extensive Air Force OSI investigation, the Department took necessary personnel action to protect sensitive information.”
Sgt. Timothy Jackson/U.S Army via AP 
“To protect the integrity of the investigation, no further comment will be made regarding the individual or the circumstances of this action,” Parnell continued. “This matter, along with others, have been referred to the Justice Department for potential further legal action. Classified information is not personal property. Leaking it for personal, political or professional gain is a betrayal of the trust placed in those responsible for keeping it. Our commitment was not an empty promise. We vowed to find you, and we meant it.”
Sylvia’s firing comes as President Trump weighs resuming strikes against Iran after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Sylvia was removed as head of strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Staff, and was coordinating the Iran battle plan. Sylvia is the second general during Hegseth’s tenure to be removed from what is known as a “J5” post, which is the lead on how the Iran war affects long-term planning. Sylvia’s predecessor, Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, was forced to retire in October 2025.
No replacement for Sylvia has been named.
The firing was reported earlier by The Atlantic.
After initially issuing a statement extending “the deepest gratitude” for Slyvia’s 32 years of service, a spokesperson for the Joint Staff retracted the statement and issued a new one.
“Upon further review, we determined that the statement did not appropriately reflect the full circumstances,” the spokesperson said. “Out of respect for the servicemember and the ongoing personnel process we will not comment further.”
Sylvia is a former commander of the 101st Airborne Division with multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, earned a Bronze Star for Valor. He was a Purple Heart recipient after being wounded in battle in that gunfight with the Taliban, and he had a storied combat career that spanned 32 years.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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