 "US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Reuters")
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff is stepping down from his position, a senior defense official said on Thursday. This is the first such change in the Pentagon’s top leadership during the time of US President Donald Trump’s presidency.
“Joe Kasper will continue to serve President Trump as a Special Government Employee (SGE) handling special projects at the Department of Defense,” the official said. “Secretary Hegseth is thankful for his continued leadership and work to advance the America First agenda.”
His exit is the latest in a string of top Pentagon officials leaving, including three who were fired last week during a leak investigation after reportedly clashing with Kasper.
Former senior advisors Darin Selnick, Dan Caldwell, and Colin Carroll responded on Sunday, saying Pentagon officials had unfairly attacked their reputation with false accusations.
“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,” they said in a joint statement posted on social media.
Hegseth’s former Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot also took aim at him in a scathing opinion piece on Sunday that described “a month of total chaos at the Pentagon.”
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More Shorts“President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account. Given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer,” wrote Ullyot.
The leadership changes come as Hegseth faces a new scandal for reportedly using the Signal app to talk about US strikes on Yemen with his wife.
The White House is still backing him, even after it was revealed that he also shared strike details in another Signal chat where a journalist was accidentally included.