Dan Caldwell, a senior adviser to US protection secretary Pete Hegseth, has been put on administrative leave for an “unauthorized disclosure,” after being recognized throughout an investigation into leaks on the Department of Defense, information company Reuters has reported.
A US official stated that Caldwell was “escorted” from the Pentagon, the division’s Washington-based headquarters.
“The investigation remains ongoing,” the official additional stated with out offering particulars concerning the nature of the disclosure.
According to a March 21 memo signed by Hegseth’s chief of employees, Joe Kasper, the leaks contained “national security information involving sensitive communications.”
The memo additionally left open the potential of a polygraph. However, it was unclear if the check was carried out on Caldwell.
Also, the choice to ship him on administrative leave is separate from a collection of firings within the Department of Defense since Hegseth, a former Fox News host and a fight veteran, took over the Pentagon in January, succeeding Lloyd Austin, who served in the identical capability beneath US President Donald Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.
Who is Dan Caldwell?
Although not as nicely referred to as different senior Pentagon officers, Caldwell has performed a vital function as an adviser to Hegseth.
In the current “Signalgate” fiasco, he was named by his boss because the “best staff point of contact” for the National Security Council because it ready for the launch of strikes towards the Houthis in Yemen, in March.
A Marine Corps veteran who as soon as served in Iraq, he informed the Financial Times in December 2024 that Iraq War was a “monstrous crime.”