A top adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was escorted out of the Pentagon on Tuesday after allegedly being identified during an investigation into leaks at the department.
Dan Caldwell was placed on administrative leave for ‘an unauthorized disclosure,’ an official told Reuters.
‘The investigation remains ongoing,’ the official said without providing details about the nature of the alleged disclosure, including whether it was made to a journalist or to someone else.
The move comes after a March 21 memo ordering a Pentagon investigation into leaks ordered by Hegseth’s chief of staff Joe Kasper.
President Donald Trump has railed against leakers, particularly those leaking information about his administration. He has ordered them found.
Kasper’s order left open the possibility of a polygraph, although it was unclear if Caldwell was subject to one.
The Pentagon chief of staff said the probe would examine ‘recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information’ and said polygraphs would be used.
‘The use of polygraphs in the execution of this investigation will be in accordance with applicable law and policy,’ Kasper wrote in a memo. ‘This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense.’
He wrote that ‘information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure’ would be referred for criminal prosecution.’
Kasper ordered the probe one day after the New York Times reported the Pentagon set up a briefing with Elon Musk on a potential war with China.
Although Caldwell is not as well known as other senior Pentagon officials, he has played a critical role as an adviser to Hegseth.
His importance was underscored in a leaked text chain on Signal disclosed by The Atlantic magazine last month.
In it, Hegseth named Caldwell as the best staff point of contact for the National Security Council as it prepared for the launch of strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
That article came out on March 24th, three days after Kasper ordered the probe into leaks.
Caldwell is the latest liability to get thrown out of the Trump cabinet.
Miles Taylor, former Homeland Security Official, was ousted when it was discovered that he’s a serial liar and leaker who abused his access to undermine national security and President Trump’s administration.
Traitor Alexander Vindman tampered with the record of the phone call between President Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, and admitted to fabricating parts of the transcript. He was part of an attempted coup d’état against a duly elected President. He lied under oath, testifying that he wasn’t the ‘whistleblower’ in the sham impeachment against President Trump. He was booted out during Trump’s first term. He should have been court martialed.
Keep it up. Get rid of all of them.
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