The senior legal counsel to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine is stepping down nearly a year ahead of schedule, the latest top official to leave or be pushed out of the Pentagon since the start of the second Trump administration.
Brig. Gen. Eric Widmar told ProPublica he was leaving “for personal reasons” after serving in the role since 2024.
“Earlier this year, my wife and I reflected on the demands of this role, which have required me to live apart from my wife for the past two years and created additional challenges for me and my family,” he said in a statement to the outlet. “After careful consideration, I decided it was time to place my family at the center of my life and focus on our next chapter together.”
Widmar joins a long line of top military officials to exit the Pentagon in the past 18 months, following Gen. Chris “C.D.” Donahue, head of Army forces in Europe and Africa, who was reportedly pushed out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth halfway through his tenure and relinquished his command last week.
Before that, Hegseth in April ousted Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy Georgeroughly two and a half years into a typical four-year term, and late last year removed U.S. Southern Command leader Adm. Alvin Holsey with two years left in his term. That firing came as Holsey oversaw controversial drone strikes on supposed drug-carrying boats in the waters around South America.
