Hegseth's chief of staff makes abrupt exit in latest Pentagon shake-up amid leak turmoil: Report



Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, reportedly made an abrupt exit from the agency on Friday.

Kasper was previously expected to leave his position for another opportunity within the DOD. However, a senior official told Newsweek he would return to a government relations and consulting position for the Trump administration.

'You make changes over time, and we're grateful for everything Joe's done.'

The official told the news outlet, "Joe Kasper will continue to serve President Trump as a Special Government Employee (SGE) handling special projects at the Department of Defense. Secretary Hegseth is thankful for his continued leadership and work to advance the America First agenda."

Kasper is the fifth official to exit the agency over the past week amid a Pentagon shake-up as a result of an investigation into internal leaks.

Former Senior Adviser Dan Caldwell, former Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, and former Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary Colin Carroll were previously removed and escorted out of the Pentagon.

The three released a joint statement following their removal.

"Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door. All three of us served our country honorably in uniform—for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," the statement read. "And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it."

A source previously told Politico that Kasper was involved with the officials' removal, claiming he was attempting to consolidate power.

"Kasper did not like that those guys had the secretary's ear," the source stated. "He did not like that they had walk-in and hanging-out privileges in the office. He wanted them out. It was a knife fight."

During a Tuesday interview with Fox News, Hegseth stood behind Kasper, calling him "a great guy" and "a great American."

"He has done a fantastic job for us at the Defense Department," he continued. "He's staying with us, going to be in a slightly different role, but he's not going anywhere, certainly not fired. You make changes over time, and we're grateful for everything Joe's done."

Regarding the removal of the three Pentagon officials, Hegseth stated, "When we had leaks, which we have had here, we did a serious leak investigation. And through that leak investigation, unfortunately, we found some folks that we believe that were not holding to the protocols that we hold dear here at the Defense Department. Through that investigation, they have been moved on and that investigation continues."

The DOD did not respond to a request for comment from Politico.

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Hegseth vows to prosecute Pentagon leakers



Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Pentagon staffers "will be prosecuted" if they are found leaking sensitive information within the department.

This push for investigations comes after top Pentagon officials were removed for allegedly leaking information to reporters. One of the officials who was removed, John Ullyot, also penned an op-ed on Sunday depicting behind-the-scenes turmoil within the department. In response, Hegseth said that Ullyot "misrepresented" his leadership and the department in his piece.

'The leakers know who they are, the truth will be told, and we stand behind that.'

"We're going to investigate and take it anywhere it leads," Hegseth said Tuesday.

"It led to unfortunate places for people I have known for a long time," Hegseth added. "It is not my job to protect them; I protect national security."

Hegseth also argued that the leakers are working to curb President Donald Trump's policies and leadership, prompting the investigation and subsequent prosecution of leakers at the Pentagon.

"When evidence is gathered — and this happened quickly — it will be handed over to the DOJ, and the people will be prosecuted," Hegseth said. "The leakers know who they are, the truth will be told, and we stand behind that."

Three other officials who were removed for alleged leaks — Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll, and Darin Selnick — issued a joint statement on Saturday expressing disappointment in the Department of Defense but also maintained their support for Trump and his administration.

"We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended. Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door," the statement reads. "All three of us served our country honorably in uniform — for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it."

"At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of 'leaks' to begin with," the statement continued. "While this experience has been unconscionable, we remain supportive of the Trump-Vance Administration’s mission to make the Pentagon great again and achieve peace through strength. We hope in the future to support those efforts in different capacities."

'I'm here to do one job for the president and the American people: secure the country, America first, peace through strength. I don't have time for leakers or hoax media.'

Notably, Caldwell was the senior adviser designated as Hegseth's point of contact in the now-infamous Signal chat leak. Hegseth has maintained that the Signal chat did not include classified or sensitive information.

"It was the result of an ongoing investigation," Hegseth said of Caldwell, Carroll, and Selnick's removal. "We identified sufficient evidence; the evidence will have to keep going. They, or others near them, were party to leaking. I have a statutory responsibility, if I believe that is the case, to ensure they no longer have access, and the investigation commences."

"If we think you are leaking to the press, that's a real problem we take seriously at the Pentagon," Hegseth added. "I'm here to do one job for the president and the American people: secure the country, America first, peace through strength. I don't have time for leakers or hoax media."

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Will UKRAINE be the next Afghanistan?
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Will UKRAINE be the next Afghanistan?

'A 21-year-old kid CAN'T do this': Only TWO WAYS Pentagon leaker could have gotten documents?



The FBI arrested a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard last week after the young man was connected to a leak of dozens of highly classified documents.

The documents contained national security secrets, and the accused leaker, Jack Teixeira, had apparently been sending these documents to his online gaming group chat.

Jason Buttrill, head of research for Glenn Beck, is on the show to discuss. Beck asks Buttrill how it was possible that a 21-year-old had access to these highly classified documents.

Buttrill says, “He pulled this information off of something called JWICS. That stands for Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communication System.” He adds, “I don’t think we’re getting the truth, the full story here, at all.”

Glenn asks him how this could have been done by a kid.

Buttrill says the most likely scenario is that “someone else’s email was up; I’m just theorizing here.” He says it’s only a possibility if that person was “completely incompetent.”

“Or,” he says, “someone could have sent him an ICE email that he should not have received. That could have been possible as well.”

“So,” Beck answers, “when they arrest him and they’re, you know, printing him as ‘the guy,’ is there any way for that to be true — that he is the only one involved in this — as far as the getting the information.”

Buttrill says “it’s possible,” but that “it needs to be looked into.”

He asks, “Did the media figure this out before the feds did? That’s what it felt like.”

Beck responds, “That’s weird, because that would be internal sources. And we know what internal sources have fed us through the media before: Nothing but lies.”


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'A 21-year-old kid CAN'T do this': Only TWO WAYS pentagon leaker could have gotten documents?
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'A 21-year-old kid CAN'T do this': Only TWO WAYS pentagon leaker could have gotten documents?