Pete Hegseth’s Chief of Staff Joe Kasper out at Pentagon as ‘turf war’ results in another shakeup: report

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lost another member of his team Thursday as former chief of staff Joe Kasper is reportedly leaving the Pentagon amid a “turf war” that has resulted in several high-level departures and threats of subjecting staff to polygraph tests.

Kasper, who left his role as chief of staff last week, was expected to stay on in a different capacity at the Pentagon but has decided to move to the private sector amid the turmoil, according to Politico.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lost another member of his team Thursday as former chief of staff Joe Kasper is reportedly leaving. Getty Images

Kasper, who left his role as chief of staff last week, was expected to stay on in a different capacity at the Pentagon but has decided to move to the private sector amid the turmoil, according to the report. Linkedin / Joe Kasper

His exit comes a month after he fired off a memo announcing an investigation into “unauthorized disclosures of sensitive and classified information across the Department of Defense.”

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 in the aftermath of the leak probe.

The investigation was launched after Hegseth reportedly became enraged that word of Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk’s March visit to the Pentagon was leaked to the New York Times.

“I’ll hook you up to a f–king polygraph!” Hegseth shouted at Adm. Christopher Grady, the then-acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after learning of the leak, sources told the Wall Street Journal Thursday.

The defense secretary also accused several others of being responsible for the leak, including Lt. Gen. Doug Sims, the Joint Staff director, whom Hegseth also threatened to hook up to a polygraph machine.

Kasper’s March memo noted that polygraph tests could be administered “in accordance with applicable law and policy” as part of the hunt for the leakers.