Senior Pentagon Official Joe Kasper Reassigned Amid Department Leadership Shake-Up

The Pentagon listed Kasper as a special government employee just days after announcing three other senior defense officials were placed on leave.

The Pentagon in Washington on March 3, 2022. Joshua Roberts/Reuters

In an ongoing Pentagon leadership shake-up, Joe Kasper will no longer serve as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff.

A senior defense official confirmed with The Epoch Times that Kasper will continue as a special government employee and assist the Department of Defense in unspecified special projects.

“Secretary Hegseth is thankful for his continued leadership and work to advance the America First agenda,” the official said.

The Epoch Times sought comment from Kasper about his change in employment status and his new responsibilities, but he did not respond by publication time.

Kasper’s job change comes just days after three Pentagon officials—Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll, and Darin Selnick—were placed on administrative leave. These personnel decisions came just weeks after the Pentagon announced an investigation into unauthorized information leaks within the department. The Pentagon has yet to directly confirm the reason for placing these three officials on leave.

Caldwell and Carroll are both Marine Corps veterans, and Selnick is a retired Air Force officer.

Caldwell last worked for national security think tank Defense Priorities and previously worked with Hegseth at Concerned Veterans for America. Caldwell came to work at the Pentagon earlier this year as an adviser to Hegseth.

Carroll served as the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg.

Selnick previously also worked at Concerned Veterans for America and served in advisory roles in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the White House during the first Trump administration. Before being placed on leave, he was a deputy chief of staff at the Department of Defense.

Caldwell took to social media platform X on April 19, posting what he described as a joint statement from himself, Carroll, and Selnick, addressing the staffing decision.

“At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with,” the post reads. “While this experience has been unconscionable, we remain supportive of the Trump-Vance Administration’s mission to make the Pentagon great again and achieve peace through strength.”

Caldwell, in an interview with Tucker Carlson this week, denied engaging in any leaks during his time at the Pentagon.

Hegseth is facing a separate Pentagon inspector general review over his involvement in at least one, and possibly two, Signal group text conversations discussing U.S. military strikes on Yemen.

The first Signal chat came to light last month after The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, reported that an administrator controlling the Yemen strikes chat group had added him to the discussion. White House national security adviser Mike Waltz has accepted responsibility for the initial Signal chat episode.

This week, The New York Times first reported that Hegseth may have been involved in a second Signal chat discussion concerning the Yemen strikes. Citing anonymous sources, the NY Times reported that the second group text allegedly involved his wife and his brother.

Hegseth spoke out on April 21, as reports of the second Signal chat emerged.

“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,” he told reporters.