Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Faces Turmoil as Chief of Staff Joe Kasper Departs Pentagon
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has experienced another setback as former chief of staff Joe Kasper has decided to leave the Pentagon amidst a reported “turf war” that has led to multiple high-level departures and threats of polygraph tests for staff members.
Kasper, who recently stepped down from his role as chief of staff, was initially planning to transition to a different position within the Pentagon. However, he has opted to pursue opportunities in the private sector due to the ongoing turmoil, according to Politico.
Kasper’s departure follows his memo from March announcing an investigation into unauthorized disclosures of sensitive and classified information within the Department of Defense.
Last week, Pentagon senior adviser Dan Caldwell, former deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll, former chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense, were all dismissed from their positions in connection to the leak probe.
The investigation was triggered by Hegseth’s anger over the leak of Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon in March to the New York Times. Hegseth reportedly threatened to administer polygraph tests to individuals involved in the leak, including Lt. Gen. Doug Sims.
In a memo from March, Kasper mentioned the possibility of conducting polygraph tests as part of the efforts to identify the leakers.
