Army Secretary Christine Wormuth -- in a dramatic and rare move -- on Tuesday fired one of the service's top generals following an Army inspector general investigation that concluded he improperly intervened in the process for selecting senior commanders.

Gen. Charles Hamilton, who had been the head of Army Materiel Command, was removed after what officials described as a flagrant abuse of authority aimed at securing a leadership role for a subordinate officer who was found unfit for command and had an inappropriate relationship with the general, according to the IG report.

The move marks the first time in nearly 20 years an Army four-star general has been outright fired and comes after a Military.com investigation in March detailed how he attempted to intervene on behalf of the subordinate officer. The publication's report earlier this year immediately triggered both his suspension from the command leadership position and the inspector general probe.

• General Randy George, the Army Chief of Staff, knew what Hamilton was doing and abetted it. George was Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's senior military assistant before his meteoric rise to the Army's chief of staff.


• The officer Hamilton pushed onto the command list was in the bottom 1% of the 811 officers considered for battalion command.


• This officer's second shot at command selection was the first time anyone had been given a second shot.


• General George inserted this officer on the command list despite her having been twice declared unqualified.


• Hamilton was banging the officer he was trying to get promoted.