The deep state is in a state of chaos after Pete Hegseth fired three Department of Defense aides who were allegedly involved in the leaking of classified government information earlier this year, along with the departure of Hegseth’s chief of staff from his role following an extended period of turmoil within the agency.
For context, on April 18, 2025, Hegseth terminated three Defense aides — a senior adviser named Dan Caldwell, Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, and Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense Colin Carroll —and removed Chief of Staff Joe Kasper from his position. All of these firings reportedly stemmed from a series of leaks that have beset the Pentagon in 2025, including the accidental inviting of Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal group chat where top-secret plans were being discussed.
In an interview with Politico, a senior Pentagon official said that Chief of Staff Kasper and the three aides who were fired had all clashed, making the group difficult for Hegseth to work with. The official told a reporter, “Joe didn’t like those guys. They all have different styles. They just didn’t get along. It was a personality clash.”
According to another Defense official, the agency is in a chaotic state after the firings, with the official telling the press, “There is a complete meltdown in the building, and this is really reflecting on the secretary’s leadership,” the other senior defense official said. “Pete Hegseth has surrounded himself with some people who don’t have his interests at heart.”
In addition, more Defense officials weighed in on the situation, with one former Trump Administration employee telling the press that the Department of Defense is scrambling to cover their bases. He said, “The front office has some really first-rate uniformed military staff, but there’s only so much they can pick up in an organization that big. That kind of dysfunction compounds.”
While the three Defense aides who were fired from their roles will not remain at the Department of Defense, former Chief of Staff Joe Kasper is reportedly transitioning into a new position within the agency. Hinting that the upheaval within the agency may not be over, one senior Defense official told the press, “There will probably be more chaos,” adding, “It certainly reinforces the fear factor, awareness that no one’s job is safe.”
These firings followed a string of other terminations of high-ranking military leaders, including Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti. According to press accounts, bureaucratic Democrats have attempted to use the firings as grounds for distrusting Secretary Hegseth. All the while, Hegseth has stood his ground.
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Watch Hegseth describe his plans for his tenure as Secretary of Defense:
Featured image credit: screenshot from the embedded video