Pete Hegseth rocked by more scandal as Pentagon purge continues

A March 21 memo from Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, ordered a crackdown on leaks.

PUBLISHED APR 16, 2025

The Pentagon has reportedly suspended two senior officials — Darin Selnick (right), deputy chief of staff, and Dan Caldwell (left), a top adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Washington D.C.: The Pentagon has suspended two senior officials — Darin Selnick, deputy chief of staff, and Dan Caldwell, a top adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — amid an investigation into unauthorized leaks of sensitive information, including discussions from a private Signal group chat involving national security officials.

Caldwell, a Marine veteran and longtime Hegseth ally, was escorted out of the Pentagon on Tuesday after being identified in the probe, a defense official confirmed. Selnick, a Trump administration veteran and former acting under secretary for personnel and readiness, was also reportedly removed from the building, according to Politico. The suspensions follow a March 21 memo from Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, ordering a crackdown on leaks, including potential polygraph tests and criminal referrals for violators.

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The investigation gained urgency after The Atlantic revealed a Signal chat — set up by National Security Adviser Michael Waltz — that included Cabinet officials discussing military strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen. Caldwell was designated as Hegseth’s liaison in the group, which inadvertently included journalist Jeffrey Goldberg. While the Pentagon has not confirmed the leaks under scrutiny, the probe coincides with heightened scrutiny over classified disclosures, a recurring frustration for former President Donald Trump.

Caldwell and Selnick both have deep ties to Hegseth and conservative circles. Caldwell previously worked with Hegseth at Concerned Veterans for America, a Koch-backed nonprofit, and later at the think tank Defense Priorities. Selnick also served in the group before joining Trump’s VA and later the Pentagon.

Kasper’s memo warned of “unauthorized disclosures of national security information” and left open the possibility of polygraphs, though it’s unclear if Caldwell underwent one. The probe began just days before The Atlantic exposed the Signal chat. The Pentagon has not commented on Selnick’s status, stating only that the investigation remains ongoing.