Hegseth's chief of staff makes abrupt exit in latest Pentagon shake-up amid leak turmoil: Report

Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, reportedly made an abrupt exit from the agency on Friday.

Kasper was previously expected to leave his position for another opportunity within the DOD. However, a senior official told Newsweek he would return to a government relations and consulting position for the Trump administration.

'You make changes over time, and we're grateful for everything Joe's done.'

The official told the news outlet, "Joe Kasper will continue to serve President Trump as a Special Government Employee (SGE) handling special projects at the Department of Defense. Secretary Hegseth is thankful for his continued leadership and work to advance the America First agenda."

Kasper is the fifth official to exit the agency over the past week amid a Pentagon shake-up as a result of an investigation into internal leaks.

Former Senior Adviser Dan Caldwell, former Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, and former Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary Colin Carroll were previously removed and escorted out of the Pentagon.

The three released a joint statement following their removal.

"Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door. All three of us served our country honorably in uniform—for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," the statement read. "And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it."

A source previously told Politico that Kasper was involved with the officials' removal, claiming he was attempting to consolidate power.

"Kasper did not like that those guys had the secretary's ear," the source stated. "He did not like that they had walk-in and hanging-out privileges in the office. He wanted them out. It was a knife fight."

During a Tuesday interview with Fox News, Hegseth stood behind Kasper, calling him "a great guy" and "a great American."

"He has done a fantastic job for us at the Defense Department," he continued. "He's staying with us, going to be in a slightly different role, but he's not going anywhere, certainly not fired. You make changes over time, and we're grateful for everything Joe's done."

Regarding the removal of the three Pentagon officials, Hegseth stated, "When we had leaks, which we have had here, we did a serious leak investigation. And through that leak investigation, unfortunately, we found some folks that we believe that were not holding to the protocols that we hold dear here at the Defense Department. Through that investigation, they have been moved on and that investigation continues."

The DOD did not respond to a request for comment from Politico.

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