Third senior Pentagon official suspended amid leak probe

A third high-level official at the Pentagon has been temporarily suspended from their job as part of a growing investigation into the unauthorized sharing of classified national security information. Colin Carroll, who serves as the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, was removed from the building on Wednesday.

As reported by The Hill, this follows the earlier suspensions of two other senior aides working for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: Dan Caldwell, his top advisor, and Darin Selnick, the deputy chief of staff. Both of these officials were placed on leave on Tuesday. A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed Carroll’s suspension, explaining that it will last until the investigation is completed, but did not share any additional information.

The investigation, which started last month, is looking into “recent cases where national security secrets were shared without permission,” per Economic Times. The Pentagon has said it will use lie detector tests as part of the inquiry, which is allowed under current rules. In a memo, Joe Kasper, Hegseth’s chief of staff, warned that anyone caught leaking information would be charged with a crime.

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This probe follows similar investigations by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. Those also used lie detector tests in their own leak cases. Before working at the Pentagon, Carroll was a reservist in the Marine Corps and had jobs at two private companies: Anduril Industries, a defense contractor that builds robotic weapons, and Applied Intuition, a software firm.

Both Caldwell and Selnick previously worked at Concerned Veterans for America, a conservative organization that Hegseth once led. Caldwell has also worked at Defense Priorities, a foreign policy research group, while Selnick is a former Air Force officer.

The exact details of the leaked information have not been made public, but some reports suggest it might include secret plans about the Panama Canal. There is also speculation that the leaks could involve information about Elon Musk’s recent meeting at the Pentagon and the decision to send a second aircraft carrier to the Red Sea.

These rumors started after a New York Times article claimed Musk was briefed on possible U.S. war plans involving China, a claim former President Donald Trump denied, saying he would never share such sensitive information. The fact that three top officials were suspended within just two days shows how seriously the Pentagon is taking this leak.

Two of the suspended aides worked directly for Hegseth, while the third was under Feinberg, suggesting a possible major security breach. The probe is still ongoing, and the Pentagon has not released more details about what was leaked or how the investigation is progressing.