Who’s Leaking at the Pentagon? Hegseth Keeps Plugging

The Pentagon has a leak problem, and high-ranking Defense Department figures are not shying away from making accusations against those they suspect of speaking to the press off the record.

High-profile leaks in the past months include reports of Elon Musk’s communications with Pentagon officials, the contents of Signal chats that included top Cabinet members, as well as planned military movements around the Panama Canal and the Red Sea.

Former Pentagon adviser Dan Caldwell made a shocking accusation in an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s podcast aired Monday—that a group of anti-Trump officials within the Defense Department’s orbit are responsible for the leaks. 

Caldwell has had a tough week. He himself was dismissed from his position as a policy adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week amid an investigation into leaks, along with two other officials, Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll. 

The three were then blamed by Hegseth on Easter Sunday for a New York Times article alleging the defense chief had improperly created a Signal chat in which he sent sensitive information to his wife.

“What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax,” Hegseth sarcastically replied when asked about the article.

Given a chance to defend himself on Carlson’s show, Caldwell said that he thinks that he may have been expelled due to his diplomatic approach to the Iran nuclear issue.

Asked by Carlson who he thinks is the likely source of the leaks, he replied, “Everyone knows where that’s coming from. It’s from the career staff who don’t like what the president and the secretary and vice president want to do.”

Caldwell then went a step further, making oblique accusations against a number of Democrat-connected figures of leaking to the press in order to sabotage the president’s agenda.

“There’s a less obvious place, and I just want to point something out. As we sit here today … Susan Rice, Michele Flournoy, Eric Edelman are still in good standing with the Department of Defense,” he said.

“If you want to look where leaks are maybe coming from, that would be a place to start,” he said.

Per the Defense Department’s website, Rice, a Democrat political appointee under multiple administrations, is a member of the Defense Policy Board Advisory, which advises the Pentagon.

Flournoy, who served as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy under President Barack Obama, and Edelman, who held foreign policy positions under Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, are also publicly listed as being on the same board.

Media representatives of the Defense Department and the Defense Policy Board did not respond to requests for comment on Caldwell’s accusations.

Hegseth still confidently maintains that he suspects the three fired Pentagon officials are those responsible for continued leaks.

“When you dismiss people who you believe are leaking classified information … Why would it surprise anybody … if those very same people keep leaking to the very same reporters?” he said.

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