A Pentagon key adviser has been sent on leave over an investigation into data leakage
Dan Caldwell, one of the leading advisers to the US Secretary of Defense Pete Haget, was brought under an escort from the Pentagon on Tuesday after being identified during an investigation into the departure in the department, an US official told Reuters.
Caldwell has been sent on administrative leave for « unauthorized disclosure, » said the employee who requested anonymity. The decision has not been announced so far.
« The investigation is ongoing, » the employee said, without providing details of the nature of the alleged data disclosure, including whether it was made to a journalist or someone else.
Hegset has written in the « secret » chat in the advance of the bumps against the « terrorists » in Yemen
President Donald Trump’s administration began aggressively pursuing the leakage of information, which was adopted with enthusiasm by heget in the Pentagon. A Memorandum of March 21, signed by Joe Casper (Head of Hegt staff), requires an investigation into « recent unauthorized discoveries of national security information involving sensitive communications ».
Casper’s document left open the possibility of using a polygraph (the so -called lie detector), although it is not clear whether Caldwell was subjected to one.
Although Caldwell is not as known as other high -ranking Pentagon officials, he plays an important role as a hegt adviser. This was emphasized in the published text chain of messages in Signal, discovered by Atlantic magazine last month.
Mike Walz took responsibility for a security breakthrough in the confidential chat
In it, Haget pointed to Caldwell as the best contact point of the National Security Council staff while preparing strikes against the Huts in Yemen.
- Caldwell had caught attention in Washington with his views, which critics called isolationists, but whose defenders said they were seeking to determine the correct amount of defensive priorities of America.
- A marine infantry veteran served in Iraq, Caldwell was quoted to say before he went to the Pentagon that America would have been better if US troops had just stayed at home.
- « I think the war in Iraq was a monstrous crime, » Caldwell told the Financial Times in December 2024.
- He is also a skeptic about US military assistance to Ukraine and advocates for the US withdrawal from Europe.
The decision to put Caldwell on administrative leave is separate from the wave of dismissals since Haget, a former Fox News presenter and a veteran of military missions, took the Pentagon in January.
These dismissals of senior officials include the chairman of the United Staff Committee, the senior admiral of the Navy, the head of the US Cyberm, and the best US military lawyers. Reuters first reported last week about the dismissal of the US military representative to the NATO Military Committee.
