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.

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