The Trump administration fired Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, U.S. officials said on Monday, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continued his purge of military leaders who have been targeted by conservatives.
Admiral Chatfield, who served in the Navy as the U.S. representative to NATO’s military committee, has joined a list of female leaders and people of color who have been fired. It includes the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.; the Navy’s former chief, Adm. Lisa Franchetti; Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short, a former senior military assistant to the defense secretary; and the former Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Linda Lee Fagan.
Also fired recently were Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, who was commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, and Gen. James Slife, the former vice chief of staff of the Air Force.
It was unclear whether President Trump or Mr. Hegseth gave the order to fire Admiral Chatfield. Last week Mr. Trump removed several national security officials, including General Haugh, after meeting with Laura Loomer, the far-right activist and conspiracy theorist.
The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on Admiral Chatfield’s firing, which was first reported by Reuters.
In a December letter to Mr. Hegseth, a conservative watchdog group included Admiral Chatfield in a list of “woke ideologues” who the group said should be purged. Before moving to NATO, Admiral Chatfield was the first woman to lead the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I.
General Haugh was ousted after Ms. Loomer accused him and his deputy of disloyalty, according to U.S. officials and a social media post by Ms. Loomer on Friday. He had been chosen by Gen. Mark A. Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whom Ms. Loomer called a traitor.
The firings of senior military leaders have rattled lawmakers and been condemned by former defense secretaries as “reckless.”