DOD purge reportedly leaves Hegseth without chief of staff, top advisors

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff is reportedly set to leave the agency after a string of dismissals of other officials allegedly involved in intelligence leaks.

Joe Kasper, Hegseth’s chief of staff, is reportedly set to leave his post in the coming days, a senior administration official told Politico Friday. Earlier this week, senior adviser Dan Caldwell, Hegseth Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, and Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg’s chief of staff Colin Carroll were placed on administrative leave, pending a probe into intel leaks.

“At this time, no final senior staffing changes have been decided, and the secretary will make any future announcements on his own timetable,” a senior Defense official told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Kasper requested an investigation into leaks at the Pentagon in March, although it is not yet known if his particular investigation was connected to the dismissals. One defense official told Politico that Kasper had conflicts with the three dismissed advisors.

“Joe didn’t like those guys,” the official told Politico. “They all have different styles. They just didn’t get along. It was a personality clash.”

Leaks have been a recurring problem at the Pentagon, with Defense documents surfacing online in March 2023, when Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira leaked hundreds of classified documents on a private Discord server.

Teixeira was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison in April for his crimes.

The Department of Defense Inspector General’s office is also inquiring into Hegseth’s involvement in a leaked Signal group chat discussing plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

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