Tumult at the Pentagon as Hegseth’s inner circle points fingers amid leak probe

First on the fox: It seems that the very published departure days in the Pentagon have come for weeks – if not months – from large tensions and elastic elasticity, can reveal Fox News Digital.
According to many defense officials, the three employees who were placed on the leave this week were not informed of what they accused of leakage, and they did not read their rights and they were not given any guidelines about those who could or cannot talk to him. They were also not asked to deliver their mobile phones as part of the leakage probe.
At least one of the former employees is consulting with the legal advisor.
Senior Assistants were placed to Defense Minister Beit Higseth on vacation and accompanied them from the building this week, where the Pentagon achieved unauthorized leaks: Senior Counselor Dan Caldwell, Vice President of the Staff Darren Celnik and Colin Carroll, Chief of Staff of the Deputy Minister of Defense Stephen Venberg.
On Friday evening, these three employees were expelled, and two defense officials confirmed on Fox News Digital, along with the Chief of Staff Joe Casper.
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The bitter dispute between the Minister of Defense Beit Higseth’s internal Beit Higseth turned to the public this week. (Franco Brana/AFP via Getty Images)
John Ullewat, one of the other press assistants, made ways with the Pentagon because he did not want to be second in the telecom store.
The officials have denied that the three men were placed on leave because of their views of foreign policy and said that they had not seen any connection with their positions in Iran and Israel – even when the reports that President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Pentagon will not interfere if Israel attacks Iran.
Selnick focused on operations, management and employees; Carroll focused largely on acquisitions; Caldawil mostly advised the Europe wallet.
But the trio was united, according to one defense official, knowing the situation, in the fact that Kasper had a “deep revenge” against them. Kasper issued a note in late March to direct the Pentagon to investigate unauthorized disclosure of journalists and go to the point of using lying detector tests if necessary.
The three raised concerns about Higseth regarding the Casper leadership, and Casper believed that they were trying to expel him, according to the official.
The official said that these tensions were flooded in “screaming matches in the front office.”
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Another Pentagon official opposed these allegations and insisted that any accusation had to do with anything other than investigating the unauthorized leakage was “a mistake.”
“This is not related to personal conflict,” said this official. “There is evidence of leakage. This is related to unauthorized disclosure, so that it includes classified information.”

Pentagon officials Dan Caldwell, the left, and Darin Celnik are investigated amid the investigation. (The inventor of the concerned warriors of America | Ministry of Defense)
Legal experts say that the employees do not need to notify them of what they were accused of until the investigation is completed.
“It is not a preliminary step to conduct an investigation, so if they believe they are subjected to railways or difficulty, they will have some legal opportunities to respond when there is an official decision,” said Sean Timmons, a legal expert in the Military and Employment law.
“They have been insulted in the media somewhat. However, this happens every day in the federal government. In general, what happened so far is not necessarily considered discipline. It is just a security protocol step to suspend their license, and to suspend their arrival in their emails, and a comprehensive independent investigation can be conducted.”
The three assistants are the civil political appointed, which means that they can be expelled on the will regardless of the investigation. But if it turns out that they participated in the unauthorized leakage, they can get rid of their security permits.
“There are very few protection when it comes to political appointment in exchange for civil civil staff,” said Liby Jameson, a lawyer for military law. “For those appointed, there is a very wide discretionary authority that must be placed on an administrative leave or reset it.”

Colin Carroll, Chief of Staff, Deputy Minister of Defense Stephen Venberg, poses a picture during the participation of the main commander in the HM Smith camp, Hawaii, on February 7. (Musa S. Lopez Franco/US Marine Corps)
If employees are accused of leakage, a report will be sent to the defense information system for safety, then there is an independent review of their eligibility to access sensitive information.
“They will likely get a chance, to try to maintain their permit and show that they do not violate any security protocols when it comes to dealing with sensitive information.” “If it turns out that they were leaking of information in violation of the rules, then there is a guidance violation of personal misconduct and to violate sensitive information. Therefore, they can be prosecuted criminally and certainly they were finished from their work, equipment and cancel them.”
Or, if the independent officer does not find sufficient evidence to link them to the leaks, they can return to their sites and maintain permits.
At the same time, Ullyot said that he made it clear to Hegseth from the beginning that he was “not interested in being the second number of anyone in public affairs.”
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ULLYOT has operated the Public Affairs Office on the basis of acting at the beginning of the administration, as it led a memorandum that retracted the work spaces for the old media and was re -was restored to conservative networks. Ullyot also hit a blow to the former president of joint chiefs of staff Mark Millie, saying that “Karadou” is a bad example of fitness standards.
But as his temporary main role approaches, Sean Parnell took the position of Pentagon’s spokesperson, Ullyot said that he and Hegseth “were unable to reach an agreement on a good suitability for me in DOD. So I told him today that I will eventually leave this week.”
Ullewat said he was still “the most powerful supporter of Higseth.”
The office of the Minister of Defense and the three assistants who were placed on this week’s leave rejected either the comment or unacceptable for this story.
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2025-04-18 19:48:00