Department of Defense (DOD) officials under Secretary Pete Hegseth who were previously placed on administrative leave this week have been fired, according to a statement from the individual issued on Saturday and media reports on Friday.
Why It Matters
The department has faced heavy scrutiny recently after Hegseth and other top Trump Cabinet officials engaged in a Signal group chat, which included a journalist, while discussing imminent war plans.
Signal is an encrypted messaging app. The handling of the sensitive military discussions among Trump’s brass also triggered widespread U.S. security concerns.
Hegseth has repeatedly rebuked the initial report from Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic: “Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that.” National security adviser Mike Waltz also took a swipe at Goldberg last month, calling him the “bottom scum of journalists.”
President Donald Trump came to the defense of Hegseth and Waltz in the immediate aftermath and even asked Waltz to look into the incident himself.
What To Know
In a March memo, Joe Kasper, Hegseth’s chief of staff, announced an investigation into the internal leaks at the department, saying in part: “Recent disclosures of national security information involving sensitive communications with principals within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) demand immediate and thorough investigation.”
Kasper added that the investigation would start immediately.
According to Politico on Friday, citing three people familiar with the matter, Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, Hegseth’s top adviser Dan Caldwell and Colin Carroll, chief of staff to the deputy defense secretary, were all fired after being placed on leave.
Politico also notes that both Selnick and Carroll plan to sue for wrongful termination.
CBS News, citing multiple officials, also reported that Caldwell and Selnick were fired, but that Carroll was only placed on administrative leave amid the ongoing probe into the internal leaks.
CBS News reports that Kasper is also “under review” as part of the investigation, and Politico notes that amid the unfolding turmoil, Kasper is leaving his role as chief of staff to Hegseth for a different position in the department.
In a statement published to X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday by Caldwell, but attributed to all three of the individuals, they said their service at the Department of Defense has “ended.”
“We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended. Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door. All three of us served our country honorably in uniform—for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it,” the three said in the joint statement.
When reached for comment about the recent reported firings, a DOD official told Newsweek via email on Friday night, “We can confirm that Mr. Carroll, Mr. Caldwell and Mr. Selnick have been placed on administrative leave pending investigation. We have nothing additional to provide at this time.”
In a follow-up email to Newsweek from a senior defense official when asked more specifically about the reports, “At this time no final senior staffing changes have been decided, and the Secretary will make any future announcements on his own timetable.”
What People Are Saying
Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick in a Saturday joint statement: “At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with. While this experience has been unconscionable, we remain supportive of the Trump-Vance Administration’s mission to make the Pentagon great again and achieve peace through strength. We hope in the future to support those efforts in different capacities.”
Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesperson, on X, formerly Twitter, last month: “For too long, instances of unauthorized disclosures of national security information have gone uninvestigated at the DoD. @SecDef is committed to aggressively pursuing parties responsible for any leaks and will refer them to law enforcement for criminal prosecution.”
Parnell added, “Efforts to subvert @POTUS command of our Armed Forces, to endanger the lives of our warfighters, or to harm our national security will not be tolerated. ACCOUNTABILITY IS BACK.”
Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu of California posted to X on Friday: “Waltz must go. Hegseth must go. Accountability now.”
What Happens Next
It is immediately unknown if more DOD officials will be placed on leave amid the ongoing probe.
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