Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is handing authority on the escalating Middle East crisis to a general nicknamed “The Gorilla,” it emerged Wednesday.
Donald Trump’s Pentagon chief has come to rely heavily on four-star General Erik Kurilla, nicknamed “The Gorilla” for obvious rhyming reasons and for being “jacked,” Politico reported, saying that the Cabinet member’s apparent deference to the officer had been raising eyebrows in government. Kurilla, who received the Bronze Star for valor after continuing to command his troops despite being shot three times during action in Iraq, enjoys “an outsize role” due to the chaos and “instability” inside Hegseth’s department, a source added.
Kurilla is the general in charge of Central Command, or CENTCOM, which organizes U.S. forces in the Middle East from Egypt in the west to Afghanistan in the east, giving him extraordinary influence over the world’s hottest zone.
Politico said that sources had claimed that if Kurilla said, ‘Jump!’ Hegseth would ask ‘How high?’
“Hegseth has sided with him time and again,” one source asserted.
One anonymous former military official with knowledge of the dynamic told Politico that Kurilla “has been very good at getting what he wants” out of Hegseth.
“If the senior military guys come across as tough and warfighters, Hegseth is easily persuaded to their point of view,” they added.
Politico also reported that Kurilla has been hawkish in his calls to increase American assets in the region, pushing back against more cautious advice to Hegseth and Trump from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan “Raisin’” Caine and Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, a notable hawk, four sources told Politico.
The build-up has included more fighters and, in the last 48 hours, moving air-to-air refueling tankers and an aircraft carrier battle group. “CENTCOM is trying to grab every asset they can from every other theater,” a source told the publication. “That’s what CENTCOM always does.”
The publication spoke to a serving Pentagon official, a diplomat, and another individual with knowledge of the decision-making dynamic.
Kurilla has been granted an audience with the president on more occasions than any other general, one of the sources said.
One source even suggested that Hegseth and Trump are particularly impressed by the Iraq War veteran’s macho man persona.
“He’s got the look of the general that both Hegseth and Trump are looking for,” said the former official. “He’s a big dude, he’s jacked, he’s exactly this ‘lethality’ look they’re going for.”
Another source, who spoke to HuffPost, suggested that even by the standards of Trump’s largely pro-Israel advisers, Kurilla is especially close to the U.S. partner. They also suggested that he is trying to put his name up in lights with a final performance before his tour as commander of CENTCOM ends in the coming months.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell denied to Politico that Hegseth was taking orders from his subordinate. “Secretary Hegseth empowers all of his combatant commanders the same way, by decentralizing command and harnessing their real-world expertise,” he said.
“Our senior leaders are in lockstep and will continue to work in unison to deliver on President Trump‘s national security agenda.”
The Department of Defense added in a statement to the Daily Beast, “The entire DOD leadership team—from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy—similarly provide courses of action and counsel to the Secretary based on their expertise.
“The Secretary then makes a decision and final recommendation to the President. This is how the Pentagon does, and should, function.”
Kurilla, 59, is a West Point graduate with an MBA and a master’s degree from the War College, who is most likely on his last tour of duty in the Army. He was deployed took part in the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, the Gulf War the next year, and to Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.
His received a Bronze Star with valor after a battle in Mosul, Iraq, in 2005, and went on to hold senior roles in Special Operations Command and commanding airborne troops and U.S. Rangers.
The depth of “The Gorilla’s” combat experience may have been a draw for Hegseth, 45,who has made little secret of his veneration for combat troops. While Hegseth has two Bronze Stars, neither are for valor; he had one combat deployment in Iraq and a training deployment to Afghanistan and retired from the National Guard reserve as a major in 2024.
