The head of the Pentagon’s sprawling health care system resigned abruptly Friday a week after the Trump administration purged several top military officers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Army Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland, who had overseen the Defense Health Agency, has been replaced, according to a statement issued by the Stephen Ferrara, the acting assistant secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.
The Defense Health Agency provides access to health care for 9.5 million troops, their families and retirees.
Ferrara announced in the statement that Crosland, a family practice physician, “is beginning her retirement.”
Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the nation’s most senior military officer, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, a Black officer whom Hegseth had criticized in a book for supporting diversity efforts. Hegseth also fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top officer, and the top lawyers for each of the Armed Services.
Ferrara, in a statement, thanked Crosland for her 32 years of service and named David Smith as her replacement while a search for her replacement begins. Crosland is a Black woman.
