Dan Caldwell, a key adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was “escorted” out of the Pentagon Tuesday after being implicated during a leak investigation.
Caldwell was put on administrative leave for “an unauthorized disclosure,” a US official told Reuters, adding that “the investigation remains ongoing.”
A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed to The Post that Caldwell had been removed from his post.
It’s unclear what material Caldwell, a senior adviser in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, is accused of leaking and to whom.
Caldwell’s removal comes less than a month after Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, ordered the director for defense intelligence (counterintelligence, law enforcement, and security) to assist in a probe into “unauthorized disclosures of sensitive and classified information across the Department of Defense.”
“Recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information involving sensitive communications with principals within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) demand immediate and thorough investigation,” Kasper wrote in the March 21 memo.
The directive noted that polygraph tests could be administered “in accordance with applicable law and policy” as part of the hunt for the leaker.
It’s unclear whether Caldwell was subjected to a polygraph test.
A report including a “complete record of unauthorized disclosures within the Department of Defense and recommendations to improve such efforts” is expected to be delivered to Hegseth at the end of the investigation.
“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,” Kasper wrote.
It’s not yet known whether Caldwell will face any criminal charges.
The Pentagon leak investigation was launched days before the Atlantic magazine’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, reported on his inclusion in a Signal message chain in which top Trump administration officials, including Hegseth, discussed strikes against the Houthi terror group in Yemen.
In the chat, Hegseth named Caldwell as the best staff point of contact for the White House National Security Council as it prepared for the March 15 operation.
Caldwell is a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Iraq War but has since been outspoken against the 2003-2011 conflict, according to Reuters.
His ouster is unrelated to a slew of high profile firings at the Pentagon under Hegseth, the outlet reported, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top admiral in the Navy, the head of US Cyber Command and top US military lawyers.
