Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield was fired from her position as the U.S. military representative to NATO's military committee in early April 2025, cited for "loss of confidence in her ability to lead." Chatfield had served 38 years in the Navy.
Stated and Actual Reasons
The Pentagon cited "loss of confidence" — the military's standard formula for dismissal. Chatfield had previously been targeted for comments about diversity, equity, and inclusion, including a Women's Equality Day presentation. Hegseth had stated publicly before his confirmation that "any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI woke s* has got to go."
One congresswoman claimed the firing was connected to Chatfield's refusal to hang Trump's official portrait at NATO headquarters.
Pattern
Chatfield's firing occurred within days of Haugh's removal from NSA/Cyber Command. By this point (early April 2025), the administration had fired the Coast Guard Commandant (Fagan, Jan 21), the Joint Chiefs Chairman (Brown, Feb 22), the Chief of Naval Operations (Franchetti, Feb 22), the Air Force Vice Chief (Slife, Feb 22), three JAGs (Feb 22), the NSA/Cyber Command head (Haugh, Apr 3), and now a NATO representative — at least nine senior officers in under three months.