A former top aide to Pete Hegseth has gotten a new intelligence job after he was forced out last year while the defense secretary accused “disgruntled” employees of leaking to the press.
Dan Caldwell, who was unceremoniously marched out of the Pentagon last April and publicly chastised by Hegseth amid an investigation into leaks, has now been hired as an adviser at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, The New York Times reported.
Caldwell’s new role suggests that the investigation against him and two other top Pentagon officials—Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick—has concluded and that Caldwell is in the clear.
The appointment of Caldwell to a top intelligence position is widely seen as a blow to Hegseth, who had suggested, without proof, that all three men were guilty of leaking.
“If those people are exonerated, fantastic,” Hegseth told Fox News in April 2025. “We don’t think, based on what we understand, that it’s going to be a good day for a number of those individuals because of what was found in the investigation.”
His comments came amid a frantic crusade against leakers he’d launched within the Pentagon in the wake of the Signalgate scandal, in which Hegseth himself had shared sensitive military information in a Signal chat that inadvertently included a journalist.
While details of the leaking inquiry have not been publicly disclosed, a Trump administration official told the Times that Caldwell was cleared.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence added that any new hire must go through a rigorous background check, including “record checks and personal interviews with a trained official to ensure the individual is trustworthy and does not pose a threat to national security.”
Caldwell was escorted from the Pentagon last year after being identified during an investigation into leaks at the Department of Defense.
The probe was launched as Hegseth appeared to be desperately seeking a distraction while he faced backlash for openly discussing plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen with top Trump officials on Signal.
Hegseth had named Caldwell in the Signal chats as his best point of contact for the National Security Council as the U.S. prepared to launch the airstrikes in Yemen.
Selnick, who worked as Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff, has denied any wrongdoing as part of the leaking probe.
“It has been clear from the beginning that the allegations against the three of us from April 2025 were false and that we were never targets of any investigation,” he told the Times. “I have moved on from all of this, strongly support President Trump, and look forward to the investigation report becoming public.”
Carroll, the former chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen A. Feinberg, has also since been given a new role in the defense industry.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for comment.
