Fired Pentagon employees accuse Hegseth's team of defamation

In a joint statement on Saturday, Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll, and Darin Selnick said they were incredibly disappointed with how their service at the Pentagon ended.

All three were suspended in recent days and dismissed on Friday over what a Defense Department official described as the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. These dismissals stripped an already understaffed team under Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth of three senior officials.

The men also noted that each of them had previously served in the military and understands the importance of information security and works daily to protect it.

“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 statement said.

The officials added that although the experience had been shameless, they continue to support the mission of President Donald Trump’s administration and Vice President JD Vance to restore the Pentagon to greatness and achieve peace through strength.

“We hope in the future to support those efforts in different capacities,” the statement read.

The Washington Post also reported on who the dismissed Pentagon employees were and what positions they held:

• Caldwell served as a senior adviser to Hegseth, focusing on various foreign policy matters;
• Selnik was deputy chief of staff to Hegseth, dedicating much of his time to personnel issues;
• Carroll was chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, specializing in defense technologies.

What preceded this

Last month Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally added an Atlantic magazine editor to a Signal group chat where officials were discussing potential strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, sparking a scandal.

However, at the end of March, Trump stated that he had no intention of firing anyone.