Top Hegseth adviser escorted from Pentagon and put on leave in leak probe

Dan Caldwell, one of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leading advisers, was reportedly escorted out of the Pentagon on Tuesday after he was identified as an alleged leak source by the Department of Defense, according to a government official.

The official told Reuters that Caldwell has been placed on administrative leave for "an unauthorized disclosure."

According to the source, the investigation is ongoing. They did not provide details regarding the alleged disclosure and whether or not it was made to a journalist or another individual.

Caldwell's building access has been revoked, pending further investigation, according to a Politico report.

President Donald Trump has been aggressive in pursuing leaks, and that same desire to keep information from reaching the public has been adopted by Hegseth.

On March 21, a memo signed by Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, called for an investigation into "recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information involving sensitive communications."

During last month's highly publicized Signal leak involving Hegseth — in which Trump administration officials inadvertently added national security reporter and Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg into a group chat discussing plans to attack Houthis in Yemen — Caldwell was named as the defense secretary's best point of contact.

Caldwell is a Marine Corps veteran who deployed to Iraq. Before working at the Pentagon, he voiced his belief that the U.S. war in Iraq was a mistake, and that military members would have been better off staying at home.

"I think the Iraq war was a monstrous crime," he told the Financial Times in December 2024.

He has also expressed some isolationist views, questioning the U.S.'s involvement in Russia's expansionist war against Ukraine. Caldwell also expressed beliefs that the U.S. should reduce the money it spends helping to defend European allies.

Staffing at the Pentagon has been shaken up since Hegseth's arrival. He fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top admiral in the Navy, the head of the nation's Cyber Command, and many of the Defense Department's top military lawyers.

Reuters reported last week that Hegseth fired the U.S. military's representative to the NATO Military Committee.