Pentagon employees were ousted after turf war in Hegseth’s office: source

WASHINGTON — The dismissal of three key Pentagon aides in recent days followed a bureaucratic turf war fueled by ego and personality clashes — rather than sweeping philosophical differences as some suggested, The Post has learned.

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 each escorted out of the building in a series of firings last week that occurred as a result of an investigation into leaks from officials.

Caldwell denied in an interview with Tucker Carlson Monday that he’d leaked information, and claimed he was targeted for his policy views. But a source with direct knowledge of the dynamics told The Post on Tuesday that the whole ordeal boiled down to office politics.

The firings were the consequence of a “turf war” involving Joe Kasper, the now-former chief of staff to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to this source, who said Kasper “felt threatened that more and more of his portfolio … was being given to” Selnick and Caldwell.

In response, Kasper ordered the leak investigation that ultimately led to the trio’s terminations, the person said.

Some of Kasper’s nominal responsibilities that Selnick and Caldwell had been overseeing included “recommendations on appointments, decisions on high-level official visits and official travel planning — much of what was emerging as a priority for that given week,” according to the source.

Caldwell had also been given responsibility over Middle East and Ukraine policy in Hegseth’s office, while Selnick was in charge of personnel matters, such as canceling “DEI and identity politics” at the Pentagon, the source said.

“It was simply because [Kasper] wasn’t an effective manager and balls were being dropped, decisions were not made, etc.,” the person claimed, adding of Kasper. “He’s a nice guy but a poor manager.

Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll were officially terminated on Friday — the same day Kasper left his role as chief of staff for a new one “as a Special Government Employee (SGE) handling special projects” at the Pentagon, a senior defense official told The Post on Monday.

The Pentagon and White House have consistently stated that all three now-former employees were asked to leave because they were speaking to media outlets about internal discussions.

“They were Pentagon employees who leaked against their boss to news agencies in this room,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.

“It’s been clear since day one from this administration that we are not going to tolerate individuals who leaked to the mainstream media, particularly when it comes to sensitive information.”

A day earlier, Leavitt asserted that the ex-employees were actively working against President Trump and Hegseth.

“This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change you are trying to implement.

Caldwell insisted to Carlson Monday that a darker dynamic was at work, saying: “We were threatening a lot of established interests in our own separate ways, and we had people who had personal vendettas against us, yes, and I think they weaponized the investigation against us.”

However, two separate defense officials told The Post on Tuesday that the firings had nothing to do with political differences, with one saying: “There are no ideological disputes that led to any of the firings.”

A former Trump official also cast doubt on Caldwell’s accusation, noting all three fired officials share similar policy views to Hegseth.

Still, Carlson — a former Fox News colleague of Hegseth — suggested Caldwell had been fired for comments he had made in the media opposing military action against Iran.

“By giving on the record interviews before you went in, describing your foreign policy views … there were people knew that you weren’t fully on board with the regime change program,” Carlson said.

Defense sources close to the administration say discussions remain ongoing about possible strikes on Iran — likely to be conducted by Israel without US forces — but emphasized that Trump is advocating first for diplomacy.

A Pentagon spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.