Mass firings, leaked secrets, blame game: Ex-Pentagon spokesperson exposes how Pete Hegseth’s leadership unleashed choas

Weeks after some top officials of the Trump administration allegedly leaked some sensitive information on impending military strike on the Houthis on a Signal chat that happened to have a journalist added, a former top Pentagon spokesperson has exposed how United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has unleashed chaos at the defense headquarters.

From mass firings to resignations to sensitive information leaks to a spiraling blame game — this is how the Department of Defense under leadership of Pete Hegseth has functioned in recent weeks.

Recently, three former senior advisers to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – Dan Caldwell, a Hegseth aide; Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg; and Darin Selnick, Hegseth's deputy chief of staff – were ousted by Pete Hegseth and later blamed for “leaking sensitive information”.

All three have decried in a statement that the allegations were “baseless” and that they have not even been told what they were being investigated for.

“At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of leaks' to begin with,” a joint statement shared by Dan Caldwell said.

Former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot also announced he was resigning this week. The Pentagon, however, said that Ullyot was asked to resign. Pete Hegseth's Chief of Staff Joe Kasper – who had requested an investigation into the Pantagon leaks – is also reportedly leaving.

The upheaval comes less than 100 days into the Trump administration where the Pentagon has found itself frequently at the epicenter of controversial moves.

First, it was the Signalgate when Pete Hegseth, JD Vance and other top Trump officials shared detailed military plans on a Signal chat after adding a journalist to it. Then came the outright denial that it ever happened — prompting the journalist to release the full chat as proof.

Now a New York Times report has revealed that Pete Hegseth shared details of the Yemen strike in a Signal chat that included his wife and brother.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal had reported that Pete Hegseth “brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed.”

A classified briefing on China was also reportedly set up for Elon Musk by the Pentagon. While the meeting was cancelled, Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon's intelligence and law enforcement arms were investigating what it says are leaks of national security information.

The departures come on the heels of a sweeping purge of senior military leadership, including Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti, NSA and US Cyber Command Director Gen. Tim Haugh, and Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the US military’s representative to the NATO Military Committee.

(With agency inputs)