Politico: Controversial Hegseth chief of staff to leave Pentagon

Joe Kasper will continue to support and advise the Pentagon, he said, but as a special government employee.

A former longtime chief of staff to indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter, Kasper was a leading figure in the firings of senior adviser Dan Caldwell, Hegseth deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg. The trio were ousted last week in a leak investigation.

Some officials saw the wave of firings as a bid by Kasper to consolidate power.

“Kasper did not like that those guys had the secretary’s ear,” a person familiar with the dynamic said. “He did not like that they had walk-in and hanging-out privileges in the office. He wanted them out. It was a knife fight.”

It’s a dog-eat-dog world!

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/24/hegseth-chief-of-staff-pentagon-leaving-00308721

Politico: The vicious rivalries tearing apart Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon

A feud between the secretary’s advisers and his chief of staff created backbiting and distrust that has erupted into the open.

When President Donald Trump chose Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary, incoming officials knew they’d need to surround the inexperienced Fox News host with accomplished staff who could handle the nation’s largest bureaucracy. Hegseth would be the show horse, they figured, and others at the top would keep the Pentagon on track.

What happened was the opposite. Hegseth surrounded himself with advisers who quickly turned into vicious rivals for power — whose bitter brawl has now unraveled into revenge power plays, surprise firings, accusations of leaking and embarrassing headlines that are blowing up the Pentagon, distracting from Trump’s agenda and possibly jeopardizing Hegseth’s job.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world. Just consider that they’re not starting with the finest of people.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/22/pentagon-infighting-hegseth-fired-officials-00302709