Topline
Dan Caldwell, a key adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was reportedly placed on administrative leave after the department launched an ongoing investigation into “unauthorized disclosures in late March, multiple outlets reported Tuesday.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth listens as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks in the … More
Key Facts
Caldwell was escorted out of the Pentagon on Tuesday and was placed on administrative leave for “an unauthorized disclosure,” an unidentified official told Reuters, which first reported the news about Caldwell.
It’s not clear what leak Caldwell was placed on leave in relation to, but Hegseth’s chief of staff Joe Kasper ordered “an investigation into unauthorized disclosures” in the department on March 21.
In the memo requesting the investigation, Kasper said it would begin immediately and end with a report to Hegseth on recommendations to prevent more unauthorized disclosures.
If the investigation found “a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure,” Kasper was to be informed and the information was to “be referred to the appropriate criminal law enforcement entity for criminal prosecution,” the memo said.
The Department of Defense told Forbes it cannot comment on ongoing investigations.
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Who Is Dan Caldwell?
Caldwell is a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War, and before his role in the Defense Department he worked at Defense Priorities, a conservative think tank. He also worked at Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit group Hegseth previously led. Caldwell has also helped advise the Pentagon on its Ukraine policy, Politico reported. He told the Financial Times in a podcast late last year he opposed the Iraq War, saying it was a “monstrous crime,” and his critics have said his views are “isolationist,” Reuters reported. In an article he co-wrote for Foreign Affairs in November, Caldwell said the U.S. “should militarily retrench from regions in which American interests are less pronounced, such as Europe and the Middle East,” and called on Republicans to embrace President Donald Trump’s “‘art of the deal’ foreign policy approach.” Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized Caldwell’s take after he moved to the Defense Department, telling Jewish Insider: “It’s alarming that people can clear vetting after … suggesting that America should ‘militarily retrench’ from” the Middle East.
Was Dan Caldwell Involved In Signalgate?
Caldwell was named by Hegseth as the best point of contact for the National Security Council regarding the U.S. strikes on the Houthis in Yemen in a Signal chat that unintentionally included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg. It is not clear whether his administrative leave has anything to do with the Signal chat, though Goldberg’s inclusion was widely considered a reckless breach of national security and led to concerns that Hegseth himself sent classified information in unapproved channels.
Key Background
It is not clear what Kasper was referring to when requesting the investigation into “unauthorized disclosures of national security information involving sensitive communications” in late March. Kasper ordered the investigation into unauthorized disclosures before Goldberg published an article in The Atlantic detailing his inclusion in the group chat, but after the chat and subsequent airstrikes had happened.
Further Reading
Exclusive: Top Hegseth adviser Dan Caldwell put on leave in Pentagon leak probe (Reuters)
Top Pentagon adviser placed on leave in leak probe (Politico)
Defense Department Inspector General Will Evaluate Pete Hegseth’s Role In Signal Chat (Forbes)
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