A senior advisor to Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was escorted out of the Pentagon and placed on administrative leave, according to a Defense Department official.
Dan Caldwell was suspended over an “unauthorized disclosure” of information amid an ongoing investigation into leaks from within the Pentagon. Caldwell, a foreign policy realist, previously worked with the restraint-oriented think tank Defense Priorities and Concerned Veterans for America, which was formerly led by Hegseth. He has been a vocal advocate for significantly reducing the U.S. military presence in Europe and withdrawing troops from Iraq and Syria.
The Pentagon recently announced an effort to identify leakers from within the Defense Department regarding “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.” The announcement said that the DoD would use polygraph exams to identify who was allegedly leaking sensitive or secret data.
“The use of polygraphs in the execution of this investigation will be in accordance with applicable law and policy,” DOD Chief of Staff Joe Kasper wrote in a memo. “This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense.”
“The report will include a complete record of unauthorized disclosures within the Department of Defense and recommendations to improve such efforts,” the memo said.
The memo also noted that “information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure” would be referred for criminal prosecution.
Caldwell’s close ties to Hegseth were highlighted in a leaked Signal chat about U.S. strikes on the Houthis, in which Hegseth identified him as the Pentagon’s point of contact for the operation. The private conversation was exposed after National Security Advisor Mike Waltz accidentally added The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the group.
This leak is separate from the one involving someone leaking classified U.S. intelligence about the bombs dropped on Iran.
Days of vehement opposition to reporting by CNN and the New York Times suggest that Trump is angrier than normal about the leak of a study claiming that a dozen 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs achieved nothing to halt Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
Trump has pointed fingers at members of Congress and claimed that the White House will no longer provide as frequent briefings on military operations.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General Dan Caine are having a press conference at the Pentagon. I’ll bring you any news updates here.
General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that on Monday morning, they received “indications and warnings that Iran intended to attack US bases in the region” and evacuated the majority of their people.
“I want to read some of the assessment and assessments provided. Whether fake news, CNN, MSNBC or New York Times, there has been fawning coverage of preliminary assessment. I have not had a chance to read it, every outlet reported on preliminary assessment from DIA. I’m looking at it right now, preliminary, day and a half after the actual strike, it admits it requires 82s weeks to aaccumulate necessary data, it is preliminary,” Hegseth said.
“It points out it is not coordinated with the intelligence community at all, there is low-confidence in this report, its there are gaps in information and says multiple linchpin assumptions are what this is, that means your entire premise is predicateod a linchpin. If you are wrong, everything else is wrong. This report acknowledges likely severe damage. Leaked because someone had agenda to muddy water and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful. Get to the chairman in a moment, he will layout the particulars for you based on his professional military experience,” Hegseth added.
