The commander in charge of Pituffik Space Base in Greenland has been fired after she sent an email pushing back against JD Vance’s claims that Denmark was failing to protect the island from Russia and China.
Colonel Susan Meyers was removed from her post Thursday, the same day Military.com reported she had written a personnel-wide email saying base leadership did not share the vice president’s “concerns.”
The timing suggested she was the latest victim of President Donald Trump’s purge of anyone deemed insufficiently loyal to the administration
Vance had lectured his Danish hosts during a March 28 visit to Pituffik, saying, “You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland.”
His remarks came a day after Trump repeated his threat that the U.S. would “go as far as we have to go” to take control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous region of Denmark.
“We need Greenland. And the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark. Denmark has to have us have Greenland,” Trump said on March 27.
But a few days after Vance’s visit, Meyers—who oversaw U.S. Space Force officer guardians as well as airmen from Canada, Denmark and Greenland—wrote that Vance’s remarks did not reflect the views of base leadership, according to an email obtained by Military.com.
“I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the U.S. administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base,” she wrote in a March 31 message to all base personnel.
Meyers had assumed command of the 821st Space Base Group in July, according to a Facebook post celebrating the change of command.
After the Military.com story broke on Thursday, a Pentagon spokesperson posted a Space Force statement saying Meyers had been removed that same day “for loss of confidence in her ability to lead.”
“Actions taken to undermine the chain of command or to subvert President Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated at the Department of Defense,” spokesman Sean Parnell wrote in a post on the social media platform X that linked to the Military.com article.
“Commanders are expected to adhere to the highest standards of conduct, especially as it relates to remaining nonpartisan in the performance of their duties,” the Space Force statement said.
Actions to undermine the chain of command or to subvert President Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated at the Department of Defense.⬇️⬇️ https://t.co/ITFeGw0kUf pic.twitter.com/MO68aje1X2
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellATSD) April 11, 2025
Former officials have accused the administration of “bullying, obfuscation and confusion” when it comes to Greenland, but Meyers’ message was a rare uniformed rebuke of the Trump administration’s constant criticism of NATO members and longtime allies, according to Military.com.
The administration has nevertheless been purging the military of officials it deems insufficiently loyal to the president and his ideology.
U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, the U.S. military representative to the NATO Military Committee, was fired over the weekend after she was accused of being a “woke ideologue.” During a 2015 Women’s Equality Day speech, Chatfield had said that women can be pilots and pointed out that 80 percent of lawmakers at the time were male, which could impact which issues “go forward.”
Air Force General Timothy Haugh, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, was fired last week after conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer claimed he was a Biden appointee and therefore disloyal to Trump.
Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top officer and the first woman to hold the post, was fired in February, along with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Charles “CQ” Brown, who is Black. Both were accused of being “diversity” hires who didn’t earn their posts on the merits.
The move to fire Brown was particularly “historic and unprecedented,” Military.com reported at the time.
Trump’s pick to replace the four-star general and fighter pilot was Air Force Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine, a retired three-star general who didn’t even meet the statutory requirements for the job.
By law, the chairman must be chosen from among the vice chairman, one of the service secretaries, or a combatant commander. The president, however, is allowed to waive that requirement if “such action is necessary in the national interest.”
If confirmed, Caine will be the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff never to have achieved the rank of four-star general or admiral. He is, however, white.
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