Pentagon senior adviser Dan Caldwell ousted during investigation into leaks
Dan Caldwell, a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has been placed on administrative leave and was escorted out of the Pentagon by security on Tuesday, two defense officials said.
The officials said Caldwell's sudden downfall was tied to an investigation into unauthorized disclosure of department information. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
Caldwell, who served in the Marine Corps, was one of several senior advisers who worked closely with Hegseth. He was the staff member designated as Hegseth's point person in the Signal messaging chat that top Trump administration national security officials, including Hegseth, used to convey plans for a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen.
The chat, set up by national security adviser Michael Waltz, included a number of Cabinet members and came to light because Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was added to the group.
The officials did not disclose what leaks are being investigated, but there has been a crackdown across the Pentagon and the Trump administration on the disclosure of sensitive or classified information, starting even before news of the Signal chat emerged on March 24.
Caldwell바카라 게임 웹사이트s ties to the secretary go back to Hegseth바카라 게임 웹사이트s time as the head of Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit that fell into financial difficulty during his time there. Caldwell worked at CVA beginning in 2013 as policy director and later as executive director.
Caldwell바카라 게임 웹사이트s ouster was first reported by Reuters.
On March 21, Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, said in a memo that the Pentagon was investigating what it said were . Defense Department personnel could face polygraphs.
The memo referred to 바카라 게임 웹사이트recent unauthorized disclosures바카라 게임 웹사이트 but provided no details. Kasper warned that the investigation would begin immediately and result in a report to Hegseth.
바카라 게임 웹사이트I expect to be informed immediately if this effort results in information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure, and that such information will be referred to the appropriate criminal law enforcement entity for criminal prosecution,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Kasper said in the memo.
Caldwell, who graduated from Arizona State University in 2011, also worked as a public policy adviser at Defense Priorities, a think tank based in Washington.
