Former Hegseth Advisor Ousted in Leak Investigation Finds New Home in Gabbard’s DNI Office: Report

The former top senior advisor to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has reportedly been hired by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

Fox News reported Tuesday that Dan Caldwell, ousted from the Pentagon last April amid a high-profile purge, is now onboarding at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

A source familiar with the move told Fox News that Caldwell has already passed a polygraph, sailed through background checks, and is stepping into an administrative coordination role, one that still feeds directly into shaping the President’s daily intelligence briefing across all 18 intel agencies.

More from the news outlet:

A former top advisor to War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was ousted amid a high-profile leak investigation, has been hired to work under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, according to a source familiar with the move.

[…]

Earlier Tuesday, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned, citing opposition to the Iran war and arguing Tehran, Iran, did not pose an imminent threat to the United States, a rare public break from within the administration.

A source familiar with the move described Caldwell’s new position as an “administrative role” focused on internal management and coordination rather than directly shaping intelligence assessments or national security policy. However, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) plays a central role in coordinating intelligence across 18 agencies and shaping the president’s daily intelligence briefing.

The source said Caldwell has completed a polygraph test and passed a series of background and security checks and is in the onboarding process.

[…]

The Pentagon declined to comment on Caldwell’s hiring and the status of the investigation. The Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations did not respond to a request for comment.

Caldwell’s firing in April 2025 was part of a sweeping Pentagon purge ordered during a leak crackdown that the Trump administration said was necessary to root out bad actors undermining national security, along with two other senior aides, Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll.

Dan Caldwell was escorted out of the Pentagon for “an unauthorized disclosure,” according to Reuters.

Details of the unauthorized disclosure are unclear. According to Reuters, this comes after a March 21 memo ordering a Pentagon investigation into leaks ordered by Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff.

In a sharply worded response, the three men said at the time that they were “incredibly disappointed” by how their service at the Department of Defense ended, accusing unnamed Pentagon officials of smearing their reputations with “baseless attacks” as they were pushed out.

“We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended. Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door.

All three of us served our country honorably in uniform – for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it. At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of “leaks” to begin with.

While this experience has been unconscionable, we remain supportive of the Trump-Vance Administration’s mission to make the Pentagon great again and achieve peace through strength. We hope in the future to support those efforts in different capacities.”

Joint statement from Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll, and Darin Selnick:

We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended. Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door. All…

— Dan Caldwell (@dandcaldwell) April 19, 2025

Dan Caldwell was also part of the Mike Waltz Houthi Signal chat group.

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