DEFENSE
US Special Operations Command general retires

BY FILIP TIMOTIJA 10/03/25 12:41 PM ET

The head of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Gen. Bryan Fenton, retired from his role Friday.

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USSOCOM is a command, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., that trains, organizes and equips special forces from the Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps to conduct missions against “state and non-state actors all to protect and advance U.S. policies and objectives.”

Fenton has served as the commander of USSOCOM since August 2022. He succeeded Gen. Richard D. Clarke, a retired four-star Army general. {snip} On Tuesday, the head of Air Force Global Strike Command, Gen. Thomas Bussiere, announced his retirement from the post for “personal and family reasons.”

“FWIW, Gen. Fenton was planning on retiring, it was not tied to SecWar’s speech,” Kristina Wong, an adviser to the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, said Thursday evening on social platform X.

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