Gen. Chris Donahue to Relinquish Command of U.S. Army Europe-Africa on July 2, Submits Retirement Papers

The U.S. Army confirmed in a statement to CBS News that Donahue will "relinquish command" on July 2. Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, his deputy, will perform the duties of the commanding general in the interim. Donahue has submitted retirement papers, according to multiple sources cited by CBS News.

The Four-Star Waiver Problem

Donahue was promoted to four-star general in December 2024, which means as of today he has served fewer than 18 months at that grade. Under federal code, a general must serve at least three years at the four-star rank to retire at that pay grade without a presidential waiver.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine is among those pushing to secure that waiver, according to two sources who spoke with CBS News. Whether President Trump grants it is an open question as of June 24.

Who He Is and What He Built

Donahue commissioned in 1992, graduated from West Point, commanded Delta Force units in Iraq and Afghanistan, and led the 82nd Airborne Division from July 2020 to March 2022. The image of him boarding the last C-17 out of Kabul on August 30, 2021, photographed through night vision goggles, became one of the defining images of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

After Afghanistan, he was one of the first senior U.S. officers on the ground in Europe following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to CBS News. He played a significant advisory role in helping the Ukrainian military survive the war's first year.

Brett McGurk, who served as the special presidential envoy to the counter-ISIS coalition across both the Obama and first Trump administrations, told CBS News: "There are few people more responsible for the defeat of ISIS than Chris Donahue. He is among the most consequential commanders of his generation." Retired Army Gen. Tony Thomas, former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, called him a "generational leader" and "one of the best ever."

It had long been assumed inside the Army that Donahue would eventually become Army Chief of Staff or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, according to sources cited by CBS News. His departure has hit hard for people who saw him as the service's best candidate for either role.

The Hegseth Factor

Donahue had earned the personal displeasure of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Two U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News that Hegseth and Donahue met in person exactly once, in February 2025. Hegseth has been removing senior officers at a pace that has drawn scrutiny from both parties. Task & Purpose has catalogued departures including former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Charles "CQ" Brown Jr., former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, and several others.

Last month, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) posted a public warning on social media: "If the rumors are true that Hegseth is trying to sideline General Chris Donahue, one of our nation's finest warfighters, by downgrading U.S. Army Europe-Africa to a 3-star command, he is taking another step down a dangerous path." That warning was bipartisan in substance, coming from a Republican senator.

Hegseth has framed the broader officer purge as pursuing "less generals, more GIs" and has ordered a new review of the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, according to The Guardian, despite multiple prior reviews by the Pentagon, U.S. Central Command, the State Department, and Congress.

The Strongest Case for Hegseth's Position

The case for what Hegseth is doing is not trivial. The U.S. military's general officer corps has grown substantially relative to the size of the force over the past two decades. Critics across the political spectrum have noted that the ratio of generals to troops is historically high, and that bloated command structures can slow decisions and diffuse accountability. Hegseth's "less generals, more GIs" argument has genuine institutional reform logic behind it, whatever one thinks of how it is being executed. Downgrading a command from four-star to three-star is a structural option that military planners have debated for reasons that predate this administration.

The question is whether the specific officers being removed are being cut for genuine force-structure reasons or for personal and political ones. Those are different things, and the sources available as of June 24 do not fully resolve it.

The Structural Question That Outlasts Donahue

An Army official who spoke anonymously to the Associated Press said the Army is actively discussing downgrading U.S. Army Europe and Africa from a four-star to a three-star command. That discussion is happening against the backdrop of Hegseth's six-month Pentagon review of American forces in Europe, which he told NATO allies is "designed" to reassess the U.S. presence there.

If the command is downgraded, Donahue's departure would not be an isolated personnel action but a structural reorganization with real implications for NATO coordination at a moment when the war in Ukraine remains unresolved and U.S.-Europe relations are under strain.

The waiver decision—whether Trump signs off on Donahue retiring at four stars—has no announced timeline as of today.