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Pentagon Suspensions Continue In Mad Dash To Plug Leaks

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The Big Story 

Pentagon suspensions continue in mad dash to plug leaks

A third top Pentagon official is being placed on administrative leave amid an ongoing investigation into information leaks at the Defense Department. 

© AP

Colin Carroll, chief of staff to deputy secretary of Defense Steve A. Feinberg, was placed on administrative leave on Wednesday, a U.S. defense official told The Hill. The department did not have any more information to share. 

 

Carroll’s suspension came just a day after two of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s advisers were suspended and escorted out of the Pentagon. 

 

On Tuesday, the Defense Department suspended and escorted out Dan Caldwell, Hegseth’s senior adviser, and Darin Selnick, the department’s deputy chief of staff. Caldwell and Selnick formerly worked at Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit group previously headed by Hegseth.

 

The department officials said in March that the building had begun an investigation into “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.” 

 

“This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense,” Hegseth’s chief of staff Joe Kasper wrote in a March 21 memo. “The report will include a complete record of unauthorized disclosures within the Department of Defense and recommendations to improve such efforts.”

 

Leaks under probe by the DOD include the movement of a second aircraft carrier to the Red Sea, military operations plans for the Panama Canal, tech billionaire Elon Musk’s visit to the department and halting intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

 

Carroll, a Marine Corps intelligence officer, deployed to Afghanistan four times before working at Anduril Industries, a defense contractor specializing in autonomous systems, according to his LinkedIn. He also worked at Applied Intuition, a software company headquartered in California. 

 

Read the full report at TheHill.com.

 

Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I'm Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.

 

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Essential Reads 

How policy will affect defense and national security now and in
the future:

 

Two U.S. service members were killed and a third is in “serious condition” after being involved in a vehicle accident near the U.S.-Mexico border, the military said in a release Tuesday night.  The accident happened at about 8:50 a.m. local time Tuesday near Santa Teresa, N.M., according to the Joint Task Force-Southern Border. The cause of the accident is under investigation. The military did not release the names of …

 

A second adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been suspended amid an ongoing probe into leaks of information at the Pentagon.  The Defense Department’s deputy chief of staff, Darin Selnick, was placed on administrative leave “pending an investigation,” a U.S. Defense official told The Hill. Selnick’s suspension came as part of the same investigation into the leaks at the department that led to Dan Caldwell, Hegseth’s …

 

A group of 12 students sued the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) over changes that have been made to curriculum and book removals in its schools.   The lawsuit accuses the DODEA of eliminating curriculum that deals with subjects such as slavery, Native American history, and LGBTQ issues, taking books off shelves and canceling events the government says are promoting “gender ideology” or “divisive equity ideology.”  …

 

On Our Radar 

Upcoming things we're watching on our beat: 

  • The next phase of U.S. negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program will be held in Rome on Saturday.
  • American and Filipino forces will take part in the annual joint Balikatan war games April 21 to May 9 in the Philippines. 
  • The House and Senate are in recess until Monday, April 28.
 

In Other News 

Branch out with a different read from The Hill:

Senate Democrat calls Abrego Garcia case ‘constitutional crisis’

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said the case of a man wrongfully deported to El Salvador is a “constitutional crisis.” Murphy, seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, argued that Kilmar Abrego Garcia should not have been deported because he had been given protected status by a U.S. court, …

 

On Tap Tomorrow 

Events in and around the defense world: 

  • The Association of the U.S. Army will hold its “Transforming Army Installations Conference,” with Army Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. David Wilson, and Lt. Gen. Omar Jones, commander, Installations Management Command, at 8:10 a.m.
  • The Defense Strategies Institute will have its Unmanned Autonomous Systems Summit at 8:45 a.m.
 

What We're Reading 

News we've flagged from other outlets:

  • Former Air Force commander punished with 21 days' confinement, forfeiture of pay after guilty plea (Military.com)
  • US and Philippine joint combat drills show Trump is not scaling back on South China Sea region (The Associated Press)
 

Trending Today 

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

Close Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Evening … Read more

The Salvadoran government on Wednesday rebuffed Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-Md.) request to meet or speak with a wrongfully deported Maryland man, the … Read more

 

Opinions in The Hill 

Op-eds related to defense & national security submitted to The Hill:

 
 

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