A third Pentagon official on Wednesday was placed on administrative leave as part of an ongoing investigation into leaks at the Defense Department, a defense official confirmed.
A third Pentagon official on Wednesday was placed on administrative leave as part of an ongoing investigation into leaks at the Defense Department, a defense official confirmed.
Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, was placed on leave a day after two senior political appointees — Dan Caldwell, a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Darin Selnick, the Pentagon’s deputy chief of staff — were placed on leave for “unauthorized disclosures.”
Defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity did not provide more information about the officials placed on leave or the investigation into leaks.
Carroll previously worked at Anduril Industries, a defense technology company that makes drones, and the Defense Department’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, according to his LinkedIn page.
Hegseth on Wednesday did not answer shouted questions from reporters about his advisers being implicated in a leak scandal as the defense secretary held at a bilateral meeting at the Pentagon with El Salvador Defense Minister René Francis Merino Monroy.
Caldwell was escorted from the Pentagon on Tuesday, according to a Reuters report. Selnick was escorted out of the building, according to Politico.
The three men being placed on leave was a result of the investigation requested by Joe Kasper, Hegseth’s chief of staff. He signed a memo March 21 calling for an investigation into “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information involving sensitive communications.”
Kasper added the use of polygraphs in executing the investigation would be “in accordance with applicable law and policy.”
Last month, the top editor of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed he was mistakenly included in a conversation on the Signal messaging app in which national security officials for President Donald Trump discussed plans for airstrikes against Houthis targets in Yemen.
During the Signal chat, Hegseth named Caldwell as the best point of contact from his staff for the National Security Council as the U.S. prepared for the launch of the Houthi strikes.
Caldwell, a Marine Corps veteran, deployed to Iraq with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Defense Priorities, a Washington think tank.
Prior to becoming the deputy chief of staff, Selnick performed the duties of undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness and oversaw changes in the Pentagon’s personnel policy. Among other things, his efforts included rolling out the ban and removal of transgender service members and the dismissal of probationary employees.
Previously, Selnick was a senior adviser at Concerned Veterans for America from 2019 to 2024, the advocacy group that was once led by Hegseth. Caldwell also worked for Concerned Veterans for America as director of policy from 2013 to 2017.
The decision to place the three men on administrative leave is separate from the wave of military firings since Hegseth took over at the Pentagon in January. Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the U.S. military representative to the NATO Military Committee, and Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, who led the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, were recently removed from their posts.
Other top military officers who have been fired include Air Force Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the former chief of naval operations, and the top military lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
- Security