Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s hunt for suspected leakers inside the Pentagon has claimed its third victim.
Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, was put on administrative leave Wednesday and escorted out of the building, according to a defense official and a person familiar with the matter who spoke to Politico.
The Department of Defense is investigating a rash of leaks that have plagued the Pentagon in recent months, including military operational plans for the Panama Canal, the deployment of a second aircraft carrier to the Red Sea, and a pause in intelligence collection for Ukraine, Politico said.
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Carroll joins Dan Caldwell, a senior advisor to Hegseth, and Darin Selnick, deputy chief of staff to Hegseth, who were placed on leave on Tuesday as part of the investigation.
When reached for comment, a Pentagon official told the Daily Beast, “We can confirm that Mr. Carroll, Mr. Caldwell and Mr. Selnick have been placed on administrative leave pending investigation. We have nothing additional to provide at this time.”
The Pentagon has yet to outline specific allegations against the three officials accused of leaking information.
Carroll, a Marine Corps Reserve officer, most recently worked at defense contractor Anduril, Politico said. According to the outlet, he was fired by the Biden administration from his post as chief operating officer of the Pentagon’s former Joint Artificial Intelligence Center for creating a hostile environment.
One leak has especially ruffled feathers: news that Elon Musk would be briefed at the Pentagon on secret plans for potential war with China.
The planned briefing, reportedly requested by the billionaire himself, was exposed in a bombshell New York Times report in advance, sparking outcry from President Donald Trump’s critics who cited the Tesla CEO’s extensive business ties in China as a glaring conflict of interest.
According to The Wall Street Journal Musk and Hegseth ended up discussing other matters that were not classified.
The Defense Secretary’s tenure in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet—launched directly from his role as a Fox & Friends Weekends host—was rocked by the Signalgate scandal in March, when it was revealed that senior Trump officials, including Hegseth, shared attack plans on Houthi forces in a group chat on the messaging app Signal.
Screen shots released by The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg—who was mistakenly added to the chat by National Security adviser Mike Waltz—show Hegseth texting sensitive information, including the timings for airstrikes agains before they began on March 15.
In a memo announcing the Pentagon’s investigation into leaks last month, DOD Chief of Staff Joe Kasper said the probe might use polygraphs in its search for the alleged moles.
Kasper wrote that “information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure” would be referred for criminal prosecution.
