Pentagon's week of power struggles: leak fallout and shouting matches hit Hegseth's inner circle

FIRST ON FOX Bitter internal feuds at the Pentagon spilled out into the inhabitants this week after members of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's inner circle were relieved of their duties and now accusations are flying as careers hang in the balance Three top aides to Hegseth were placed on leave and escorted out of the building this week as the Pentagon probes unauthorized leaks senior adviser Dan Caldwell deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg Another press aide John Ullyot parted tactics with the Pentagon because he did not want to be second-in-command of the communications shop But Fox News Digital has learned from multiple defense representatives that the three employees were never advised what they were accused of leaking were not read their rights and were given no guidance on who they could or couldn t speak to They were also not solicited to turn over their cellphones as part of the leak probe PENTAGON FIRES GREENLAND US BASE COMMANDER WHO 'UNDERMINED' JD VANCE AFTER PITUFFIK VISITAt least one of the former employees is consulting with legal counsel but none have been fired and all are awaiting the outcome of the assessment Being placed on paid leave is not considered a disciplinary decision It's considered a preliminary step to conduct an scrutiny so if they think they're being railroaded or hosed they'll have several due process opportunity to respond when there's a formal decision explained Sean Timmons a legal expert in military and employment law They've been humiliated in the media to a few extent However this happens every day in the federal governing body Generally speaking what's happened so far is not necessarily considered discipline It's just considered a defense protocol step to suspend their authorization suspend their access to their emails and a full thorough independent examination can be conducted Administrators denied that the three men were placed on leave because of their foreign initiative views and disclosed they saw no connection to their positions on Iran and Israel even as reports surfaced that President Donald Trump recounted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the Pentagon would not intervene if Israel attacked Iran Selnick was focused on operations administration and personnel matters Carroll was focused largely on acquisitions and Caldwell advised mostly on the Europe portfolio But the trio were united according to one defense official with knowledge of the situation in the fact that Hegseth's chief of staff Joe Kasper had a deep vendetta against them Kasper issued a memo in late March directing the Pentagon to investigate unauthorized disclosures to reporters and to go so far as using lie detector tests if necessary The three had raised concerns to Hegseth about Kasper s leadership and Kasper concluded they were trying to get him fired according to one official Those tensions had boiled into shouting matches in the front office the official reported Another Pentagon official insisted that any accusation the firings had to do with anything other than the unauthorized leak analysis was false This is not about interpersonal conflict that official noted There is evidence of leaking This is about unauthorized disclosures up to and including classified information TRUMP HEGSETH REVEAL WHOPPING FIGURE THEY WANT FOR THE NEXT PENTAGON BUDGETThe three aides are civilian political appointees meaning they could be fired at-will regardless of the probe But if they are exposed to have engaged in unauthorized leaking they could have their guard clearances yanked away There are very meager protections when it comes to political appointees versus career civilian staff explained Libby Jamison an attorney who specializes in military law For appointees there is very broad discretion to be placed on administrative leave or reassigned If employees are accused of leaking a analysis is sent to the Defense Information System for Safeguard and then there is an independent review of their eligibility for access to sensitive information They'll get a chance potentially to try to keep their clearance and show that they didn't violate any shield clearance protocols when it comes to handling sensitive information reported Timmons If it is exposed they were leaking information in violation of the rules and then there's a guideline violation for personal misconduct and for breaching of sensitive information So they could be possibly criminally prosecuted and certainly terminated from their employment and have their clearance stripped and revoked Or if the independent officer does not find sufficient evidence to tie them to the leaks they could return to their positions and maintain clearances Ullyot meanwhile mentioned that he had made clear to Hegseth from the beginning that he was not interested in being number two to anyone in society affairs Ullyot ran the population affairs office on an acting basis at the start of the administration leading a memo that yanked back workspaces for legacy media outlets and reassigned them to conservative networks Ullyot also took a jab at former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley saying his corpulence set a bad example for Pentagon fitness standards But as his temporary chief role came to a close and Sean Parnell took the Pentagon chief spokesperson job Ullyot mentioned he and Hegseth could not come to an agreement on another good fit for me at DOD So I informed him currently that I will be leaving at the end of this week Ullyot explained he remains one of Hegseth s strongest supporters