Ousted US Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George warned months before the US-Israeli war against Iran that American missile defense stockpiles were critically low and could take until 2030 to recover, CBS News reported Thursday.

George raised the warning in late December, two months before the conflict began, according to US officials familiar with his assessment. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed him from his post in April as the war was underway.

The general’s assessment, included in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2027 force allocation planning, identified shortages of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors and Patriot missiles, with supplies expected to remain at strategically low levels until 2030.