Hegseth suspends 3 senior political aides amid leak inquiry (2025)

One official said Tuesday that it appeared Caldwell and Selnick would be the only government officials targeted in the inquiry “for now,” but then Carroll joined the list Wednesday, raising questions about whether the purge will continue to widen.

The Pentagon under Hegseth’s leadership has experienced an uncustomary amount of tumult, drawing fierce criticism from Democrats and former top Defense Department leaders alarmed by the apparent politicization of what is expected to remain a nonpartisan institution.

Last month, administration officials sidelined another senior Defense Department political appointee, John Ullyot, who had clashed with colleagues at the Pentagon. He was moved to a special projects role after serving as press secretary.

Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, did not respond to requests for comment.

Caldwell and Selnick had been given significant responsibilities in the three months since President Donald Trump returned to office, with Caldwell handling a variety of foreign policy issues and Selnick issuing several public statements concerning Trump’s effort to drastically cut the federal workforce. Carroll had a focus on autonomous weapons and other high-tech military equipment.

Caldwell, a Marine Corps veteran, previously worked with Hegseth at Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit that Hegseth led from 2013 to 2016 while also serving in the Army National Guard. Selnick, an Air Force veteran, worked as a senior adviser at CVA from 2019 to 2024. Carroll, an officer in Marine Corps Reserve, previously worked at defense contractor Anduril.

It was not immediately clear what any of the officials is accused of disclosing without permission, but the decision to suspend them coincides with a call from Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, for an investigation into the “unauthorized disclosures of national security information.” Kasper announced the inquiry last month.

“This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense,” Kasper wrote in a March 21 memo. He added that he wanted 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.”

It was unclear Wednesday whether Caldwell, Selnick or Carroll had been referred for prosecution or if their cases were being handled administratively instead. Reuters first reported Caldwell’s case, while Politico first reported Selnick’s and CBS News first had Carroll’s.

Caldwell declined to comment. Attempts to reach Selnick and Carroll were unsuccessful.

The suspensions come as Hegseth and other senior administration officials face ongoing scrutiny for their own handling of sensitive information. Last month, the Atlantic magazine reported that its top editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently added to an unclassified group chat on the commercial messaging application Signal in which numerous key advisers to Trump discussed plans for a U.S. military attack on militants in Yemen.

Michael Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, mistakenly included the journalist, while Hegseth disclosed details about the military operation before it occurred. Such information typically is considered so highly classified that it requires code word access and a secure line of communication, former defense officials have said.

Hegseth has vehemently denied assertions that what he shared in the group chat contained classified material. The Defense Department inspector general’s office will scrutinize the disclosures, it said this month.