Overview
- Dan Caldwell, a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was escorted out of the Pentagon and placed on administrative leave on April 15, 2025, for an alleged unauthorized disclosure.
- The investigation stems from a Signal group chat leak involving discussions of U.S. military strike planning against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which included Caldwell as a key contact point.
- A March 21 memo from Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, initiated the probe into leaks of sensitive national security information, with potential for polygraph testing and criminal referrals.
- Caldwell, a Marine Corps veteran with a history at conservative think tanks, has been criticized for his isolationist views and past opposition to U.S. military interventions like the Iraq War.
- The investigation, part of a broader Trump administration crackdown on leaks, remains ongoing, with details about the nature and recipients of the disclosure yet to be clarified.