Defense Secretary Pete Hegses lost another member of his team on Thursday as former Chief of Staff Joe Casper reportedly left the Pentagon during the “Turf War.”
Casper, who left his role as Chief of Staff last week, was expected to maintain a different capacity with the Pentagon, but according to Politico, he decided to move to the private sector amidst the chaos.
His exit comes a month after he fired a memo that released an investigation into “fraudulent disclosure of sensitive and classified information across the Department of Defense.”
Former Deputy Chief of Staff Darling Sernick and former Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Kardwell were each escorted from the building in a series of firing in the aftermath of last week’s leaking probe.
The investigation comes after Hegses reportedly angered that the March visit of government efficiency director Elon Musk had been leaked to the New York Times.
“I’ll connect you to AF-King Polygraph!” Hegseth cried out to the then co-headed president Christopher Grady after learning of the leak. Sources told the Wall Street Journal Thursday.
The Secretary of Defense also accused Hegses of being the head of the leak, including co-staff director Lt. Gen. Doug Sims, who threatened to connect to the polygraph machine.
Kasper’s March memo noted that polygraph testing could be managed “in accordance with applicable laws and policies” as part of the leaker hunt.
As part of the investigation, it is unclear whether anyone actually took the polygraph test.
Caldwell, Carol and Selnick accused “unknown Pentagon officials” of screaming “characters in unfounded attacks,” suggesting that “leaks” were not the reason for being fired in a joint statement.
“All three of us served our country in honor. For the two of us, this included the development of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And based on our collective services, we understood the importance of information security and worked to protect it every day.” I wrote it in X post Made by Caldwell last week.
“At this point, it has not yet been said that we have been investigated accurately, whether there is still an active investigation or whether there is even an actual investigation of a ‘leak’,” they added.
Sources said the trio clashed with Casper before ordering a leak probe, and that the fire was the result of a “turf war” involving Hegses’ former chief of staff.
Some of Kasper’s nominal responsibilities, overseen by Selnick and Caldwell, included “recommendations regarding appointments, decisions regarding high-level official visits, and official travel plans.”
The Department of Defense did not respond to requests for posting comments.
