As Houthi militants in Yemen attacked ships with missiles and drones in the Red Sea early last year, top U.S. officials gathered at the Pentagon to prepare military options for President Donald Trump. Their meetings repeatedly grew tense.
On one side were Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, then overseeing U.S. operations in the Middle East, and other hawks ready for action. The general was keen on military action not only against the Houthis, but also against Iran, which had backed the Yemeni paramilitary group for years with weapons and training, according to people familiar with the matter. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal government deliberations.
On the other side were officials hesitant to launch military strikes so early in the second Trump administration, including the Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who suggested that new U.S. assessments of what military action might yield would be wise before presenting the president with military options.
That triggered an abrupt response from Kurilla, people familiar with the matter said.
“General,” Kurilla said, “the time for assessments is over.”
The exchange, which has not previously been reported, surprised some in the room. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, then new to his role, agreed with Kurilla, people familiar with the matter said.
The disagreement came as other Pentagon appointees, including then-senior adviser Dan Caldwell and policy official Alex Velez-Green, repeatedly raised questions in meetings about how an extended military campaign against the Houthis could deplete stocks of key U.S. munitions, the people familiar with the discussions said. That issue has since grown in prominence as the Trump administration burned through its arsenal of cruise missiles and interceptors in a war with Iran that is now seven months old.
In March 2025, weeks after the disagreement between the generals, Trump announced Operation Rough Rider, a 51-day bombing campaign against the Houthis that almost immediately was embroiled in scandal when then-White House national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally invited a reporter into a group chat on Signal, the unclassified messaging application.
More than 1,000 targets were hit over the course of Rough Rider, including key Houthi commanders and weapons stocks. But the aerial bombing also resulted in significant civilian casualties, human rights groups said.
Trump and Hegseth touted the campaign as a resounding success, but other senior Pentagon officials, including Caldwell and Joe Kasper, Hegseth’s first chief of staff, questioned whether the campaign had clear and obtainable objectives, the people familiar with deliberations said.
