Top Pentagon Officials Placed on Leave in Probe of Unauthorized Disclosures

One of the officials is an adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington on April 10, 2025. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Three Department of Defense officials have been placed on leave, officials said.

One is Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg.

“We can confirm that Mr. Carroll has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation. We have nothing additional to provide at this time,” a Department of Defense official told The Epoch Times in an email on April 16.

Carroll did not respond to an inquiry.

Dan Caldwell, an adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Darin Selnick, the Pentagon’s deputy chief of staff, were removed from the Pentagon on April 15 and placed on administrative leave as part of an investigation into unauthorized disclosures, a Department of Defense official told The Epoch Times.

Caldwell and Selnick could not be reached for comment.

The Pentagon official declined to provide more details, citing the ongoing investigations.

The Department of Defense in March announced an investigation into “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information involving sensitive communications with principals within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.”

Joseph Kasper, the Pentagon’s chief of staff, wrote in a memorandum at the time to officials that polygraphs would be used in the probe, which was starting immediately and would ultimately result in a report for Hegseth.

“The report will include a complete record of unauthorized disclosures within the Department of Defense and recommendations to improve such efforts,” he said. “I expect to be informed immediately if this effort results in information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure, and that such information will be referred to the appropriate criminal law enforcement entity for criminal prosecution.”

Several federal laws bar disclosure of sensitive information. The Espionage Act provides for up to 10 years in prison for a person convicted of making available classified information “in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States.”

The Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have also said in recent weeks they’re conducting investigations into unauthorized disclosures, including an internal intelligence document outlining the latest developments concerning the Tren de Aragua gang.

Caldwell, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who later worked for the Defense Priorities think tank, had been identified as the Pentagon’s point of contact in a chat on the encrypted messaging platform Signal that took place in mid-March. National security adviser Mike Waltz inadvertently added a journalist to the chat, who later published it online.

President Donald Trump fired some National Security Council staffers after the incident, while the Pentagon’s acting inspector general said he was investigating whether Hegseth complied with Pentagon policies in using Signal.