Trump Administration Fires Female Vice Admiral Amid Widening Purge of Military Officers
Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, U.S. Military
Representative to the NATO Military Committee (center), and other senior
committee members visit the 1st Space Brigade at Fort Carson on
March 7, 2025. (U.S. Army photo by Captain Mitchell Phelps)
Posted: April 8, 2025 --- Military.com | By Konstantin
Toropin and Rebecca Kheel
Published April 07, 2025, at 5:59pm ET
Vice Admiral (O9, 3-star) Shoshana Chatfield has
been fired in what appears to be a growing purge of top-ranking military
officials by the Trump administration, multiple officials confirmed. Chatfield,
who began her career as a helicopter pilot and was the 1st woman to
be President of the Naval War College, had been serving as a senior official at
NATO and was one of just a handful of women who occupied the highest ranks of
the Navy.
Her ouster comes only days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, possibly on orders from the White House, fired the 4-star General who ran the National Security Agency. Chatfield is also the 2nd naval officer and woman to be fired by Hegseth, who also relieved Admiral (O10, 4-star) Lisa Franchetti, the Navy's top military officer and 1st woman to hold the job, shortly after he took office.
Trump fired Coast Guard Commandant Admiral (O10, 4-star)Linda Fagan, the 1st woman to hold that position, during
his first days in office. Officials in Hegseth's office did not immediately
confirm the move or offer a statement on why Chatfield was relieved or by whom
-- something that would normally be expected and widely shared for the firing
of such a high-ranking officer.
Chatfield has been targeted for years by conservatives who have sought to purge the military of officers they deem "woke," and after Trump was elected in November, conservative advocacy groups included her name on lists of officers they wanted Trump and Hegseth to fire. The main conservative charge against her is that, in 2015, she gave a speech at an event to mark Women's Equality Day, which celebrates the day the 19th Amendment was ratified to give women the right to vote.
During the speech, Chatfield noted that most members of Congress have historically been men and so issues affecting women have sometimes gone unaddressed, according to an Army article about the speech. She also said in the speech that "our diversity is our strength" -- a line that for years was an anodyne talking point said by most military officers but that conservatives have since turned into a major transgression. Hegseth has repeatedly said the idea that diversity is a strength is "the single dumbest phrase in military history."
Chatfield's appointment as the U.S. representative to NATO's military committee was one of the hundreds of military promotions that were delayed when U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., protested against a Biden administration Pentagon policy related to abortion. Tuberville's blockade was not directed at particular officers, but conservative groups highlighted Chatfield as one of the "woke" officers Tuberville was stalling as they cheered him on.
After Tuberville relented, Chatfield's promotion was briefly delayed again by U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., who specifically targeted a handful of officers he said championed diversity initiatives, before he quickly gave up his blockade on all but one officer. The silence from the Defense Department and Hegseth's office on the firing is not new. When Hegseth was presumably ordered to fire General Timothy Haugh, the head of the National Security Agency and the nation's top cyberwarfare command, officials in his office couldn't even say whether Hegseth had a role in the firing a day after news outlets 1st reported the news.
"We've seen the reports but have nothing to offer at this time," a defense official told Military.com, before adding that they would "provide more information when it becomes available." Later that day, the Pentagon's top spokesman, Sean Parnell, issued a statement that thanked Haugh "for his decades of service to our nation" but did not say why he was fired or whether the decision was made by Hegseth or Trump. Meanwhile, far-right activist Laura Loomer -- who once promoted the baseless conspiracy theory that the September 11th terror attacks were an "inside job" -- took credit for Haugh's firing on social media, saying that he and his deputy "have been disloyal to Trump."
Multiple outlets reported that Loomer met with Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday ahead of Haugh's firing. Military officers take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. They do not swear loyalty to a president or political party. Hegseth and the Trump administration have also never explained why they fired Joint Chiefs Chairman General Charles "CQ" Brown, Franchetti, and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff General Jim Slife -- all terminated in February.
Hegseth took aim at Franchetti in his most recent book, claiming she was unqualified for the job and was chosen for the role because "politics is all about optics instead of results." "Naval operations being weakened won't matter to anyone," he added. While a replacement for Brown has been nominated, both Franchetti and Slife's positions remain vacant and filled with officers who are in acting capacities and being asked to perform 2 jobs at once.
Related: No More Female 4-Stars: Franchetti Firing Leaves Top Ranks Filled by Men
