Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, was suspended and put on an undetermined administrative leave following a DOD probe into the incident, Politico and ABC reported.
He was joined by Darin Selznick, DOD's deputy chief of staff, and a top adviser to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Dan Caldwell, on Tuesday as the first names on the chopping block stemming from the national security breach.
The leaks included American military plans for the Panama Canal, White House DOGE adviser Elon Musk's visit to the Pentagon, battle carrier locations in the Red Sea and a pause in intelligence collection for Ukraine.
Carroll was fired for creating a hostile work environment by the prior Biden administration while Carroll was COO of the department's former Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.
Meanwhile, Caldwell was reportedly escorted out of the Pentagon Tuesday by security and had DOD access suspended over an "unauthorized disclosure," an official previously confirmed.
Caldwell's departure came after a journalist was included in a Signal group chat last month in which high-ranking Trump administration officials discussed military strikes in Yemen.
Hegseth has repeatedly rebuked the report by Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
It adds fuel to Democratic arguments that Hegseth should resign.
U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y., said in a social media post how this is now the "second major breach in classified information by the most senior political appointees" in the first two months with Hegseth at the DOD helm.
"(Hegseth) should never have been appointed based on merit alone, but now he is a national security threat."
"Hegseth must resign," stated New York's Goldman.
Second Hegseth adviser placed on leave under Defense Department probe
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 16, 2025 -
A second adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been suspended as the Defense Department probes leaks of information at the Pentagon.
Defense Department's deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick, was placed on administrative leave, Politico reported.
A U.S. Defense official told The Hill the leave is "pending an investigation."
The alleged leaks under investigation are reportedly related to military operations plans for the Panama Canal, the movement of a second aircraft carrier to the Red Sea, Elon Musk's visit to the department and the stoppage of intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Selnick, a retired Air Force officer, has also served as a part of several veterans' affairs groups, and was a senior adviser to the Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit formerly led by Hegseth.
Selnick's suspension follows the physical removal of Hegseth senior adviser Dan Caldwell, who was escorted out of the Pentagon Tuesday and also placed on administrative leave.
Caldwell was the point of contact in a Signal group chat in which government officials discussed military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen in March. The group was revealed by the top editor of The Atlantic, who was unexpectedly added to the thread.
Hegseth's chief of staff Joe Kasper announced in March that the probe was underway in regard to "unauthorized disclosures of national security information involving sensitive communications with principals within the Office of the Secretary of Defense."
Senior Pentagon official put on leave amid leaks probe
Washington (AFP) April 16, 2025 -
A top Pentagon official has been placed on leave pending investigation, a US defense official said Wednesday, amid a probe into leaks in the Defense Department that was launched last month.
Deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick is the second top Defense Department official -- along with Dan Caldwell, another senior advisor to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth -- to be put on leave this week.
Hegseth's chief of staff Joe Kasper signed a March 21 memo requesting an investigation into "recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information involving sensitive communications."
"I 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," the memo said.
In a sign of his seniority, Caldwell was named by Hegseth as the Defense Department's point of contact in a group chat on commercial messaging app Signal in which top officials discussed military action against Yemen's Huthi rebels.
The Pentagon inspector general's office announced an investigation earlier this month into Hegseth's use of the app -- a probe unrelated to the one requested by Kasper.
The use of Signal by top officials resulted in a scandal when National Security Advisor Mike Waltz inadvertently added a journalist to the chat on the Yemen strikes, leading to the disclosure of its contents.
Neither Waltz nor Hegseth have been fired or otherwise disciplined over the incident so far.
Related Links
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
