One of the top aides to Defense Department Secretary Pete Hegseth was reportedly escorted from the Pentagon Tuesday after being identified during an investigation into leaks at the DOD.
Dan Caldwell was placed on administrative leave for “an unauthorized disclosure,” a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
“The investigation remains ongoing,” the official said without providing details about whether the alleged disclosure was to a journalist or to someone else.
BREAKING: Pentagon Adviser Dan Caldwell has been escorted from the Pentagon after being identified as one of the leakers.
PROSECUTE HIM! pic.twitter.com/yfC4zrc6tg
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) April 15, 2025
“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,’” the New York Post pointed out.
“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.
“This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense,” he added.
Caldwell is a Marine Corps veteran who deployed to Iraq, according to Reuters.
Do you generally approve of the job Pete Hegseth has done?
However, he told the Financial Times in December 2024, “I think the Iraq war was a monstrous crime.”
Trump’s assessment that the U.S. should have never launched that war is one of the things that drew Caldwell to support the Republican presidential candidate in 2016.
In a November 2024, Caldwell co-authored a piece for Foreign Affairs in which he advocated for the U.S. to pull “significantly” back from the Middle East, contending “American interests are less pronounced” in the region.
“In the aftermath of the United States’ post-9/11 foreign policy disasters, an increasing number of Americans oppose their country’s heavy reliance on the use of military force to achieve its foreign policy objectives. Instead, they want policymakers to focus on challenges at home and be more cautious when they send U.S. service members into combat,” he contended.
Caldwell’s removal from the Pentagon does not appear to have impacted Trump’s positive view of Hegseth.
The president touted the job his SecDef is doing at a White House ceremony Tuesday honoring the Navy football team’s win of the Commander in Chief’s Trophy last season.
“We’re going to work together. We’re going to do something great, Pete,” in terms of restoring the nation’s defenses, Trump pronounced.
He added that Hegseth is already doing good work, telling him, “You’ve made a big impact.”
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
