April 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Navy Adm. Shoshana Chatfield has been fired as the U.S. military representative at the NATO Military Committee, making her the latest high-ranking military official to be dismissed by the Trump administration.
Chatfield's firing was reported Monday by Politico, Stripes and The Washington Post, which each cited unnamed individuals familiar with the situation. No cause for the dismissal was given.
Chatfield had worked at NATO headquarters in Brussels since 2023. Before that, she was the first woman to serve as president of the Naval War College, a position she had held from August 2019 to June 2023. She has an extensive decades-long military career that includes combat deployment.
Her dismissal was met with swift Democratic condemnation and accusations that Trump was reshaping the U.S. military based on loyalty to him rather than capabilities and experience.
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Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was "deeply disturbed" by Chatfield's firing.
"Trump's relentless attacks on our alliances and his careless dismissal of decorated military officials make us less safe and weaken our position across the world," he said on X.
Rep. Gil Cisneros, D-Calif., and a Navy veteran, similarly remarked on X that he has "grave concerns with the President's purge of national security officials based on perceived loyalty, rather than competency."
Trump has fired several high-ranking military officials since returning to the White House in January, with his dismissals disproportionately affecting women, including Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short and now Chatfield.
Last week, Gen. Timothy Haugh, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, as well as his deputy, Wendy Noble, were fired.
