“Unnamed Pentagon Officials Have Slandered Our Character with Baseless Attacks”: Hegseth Aides Ousted in Leak Probe Fire Back, Say They Were Never Told What They Were Accused Of

Fired Pentagon Advisor Says He Was FRAMED By DEFSEC Pete Hegseth

By Jim Hᴏft

April 25, 2025

Three senior advisers to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—Dan Caldwell, Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll—were abruptly ousted this week amid an expanding probe into alleged information leaks.

The trio, all veterans and key figures in the Trump-Vance administration’s efforts to reform the Pentagon, have publicly condemned their dismissals as unjust and politically motivated.

In a joint statement, Caldwell—an advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Selnick, Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff; and Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg—expressed profound disappointment over their treatment, asserting that they were never informed of the specific allegations against them.

Read their full joint statement below:

The Pentagon has not released any statement regarding the dismissal of the top officials.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Dan Caldwell, who was also a part of the Mike Waltz Houthi Signal chat group, was escorted out of the Pentagon on Tuesday for “an unauthorized disclosure.”

Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg, were also placed on leave and escorted out of the Pentagon.

By Friday, reports confirmed that Joe Kasper, Chief of Staff to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was stepping down amid the internal shakeup following a leak investigation.

According to Fox News, Kasper allegedly harbored a “deep vendetta” against Caldwell, Carroll, and Selnick. Kasper was said to have led the effort to identify those leaking information to the media.

“This is not about interpersonal conflict,” a Pentagon official told Fox News. “There is evidence of leaking. This is about unauthorized disclosures, up to and including classified information.”

Pentagon's week of power struggles: Leak fallout and shouting matches hit Hegseth's inner circle

On Friday evening, those three employees were fired, two defense officials confirmed to Fox News Digital, along with chief of staff Joe Kasper.

Another press aide, John Ullyot, parted ways with the Pentagon because he did not want to be second-in-command of the communications shop.

Officials denied that the three men were placed on leave because of their foreign policy views and said they saw no connection to their positions on Iran and Israel – even as reports surfaced that President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the Pentagon would not intervene if Israel attacked Iran.

Selnick was focused on operations, administration and personnel matters; Carroll was focused largely on acquisitions; and Caldwell advised mostly on the Europe portfolio.

But the trio were united, according to one defense official with knowledge of the situation, in the fact that Kasper had a "deep vendetta" against them.

Kasper issued a memo in late March directing the Pentagon to investigate unauthorized disclosures to reporters and to go so far as using lie detector tests if necessary.

That same day, it was confirmed that Caldwell, Selnick, and Carroll had all been placed on administrative leave earlier in the week and were officially terminated on Friday.

The three aides are civilian political appointees, meaning they could be fired at-will regardless of the investigation. But if they are found to have engaged in unauthorized leaking, they could have their security clearances yanked away.

"There are very few protections when it comes to political appointees versus career civilian staff," said Libby Jamison, an attorney who specializes in military law. "For appointees, there is very broad discretion to be placed on administrative leave or reassigned."

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