In the latest shake-up under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, a number of policy advisers from previous administrations have been ousted from the Pentagon.
The dismissals, announced Friday, come amid growing concerns about leaks at the Pentagon—an issue which led to the dismissal of three members of Hegseth’s inner circle in April.
Hegseth scrubbed the Defense Policy Board, which includes longtime DoD figures, such as Susan Rice, Michele Flournoy, and Eric Edelman. The Defense Policy Board’s government webpage, which previously displayed their names, no longer does.
Rice was a political appointee under three Democrat presidential administrations, including serving as a top domestic policy adviser to then-President Joe Biden.
Flournoy served as undersecretary of defense for policy under President Barack Obama, and Edelman held foreign policy positions under Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
“Secretary Hegseth appreciates the members’ efforts on behalf of the department and the United States of America, but changes are needed to support the new strategic direction and policy priorities of the department and to ensure departmental resources are used efficiently,” Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement after the dismissals.
Parnell said that the firings were informed by a “45-day review of DoD advisory committees.”
However, these dismissals came shortly after former Pentagon adviser Dan Caldwell, who himself was ousted amid a leaks probe, denied allegations of leaking on Tucker Carlson’s podcast, and implied that officials on DoD advisory boards were responsible for high-profile leaks.
Asked by Carlson who he thinks is the likely source of the leaks, he replied, “Everyone knows where that’s coming from. It’s from the career staff who don’t like what the president and the secretary and vice president want to do.”
“There’s a less obvious place, and I just want to point something out. As we sit here today … Susan Rice, Michele Flournoy, Eric Edelman are still in good standing with the Department of Defense,” Caldwell said.
“If you want to look where leaks are maybe coming from, that would be a place to start.”
High-profile leaks in the past few months include reports of Elon Musk’s communications with Pentagon officials and the contents of Signal chats that included top Cabinet members, as well as planned military movements around the Panama Canal and the Red Sea.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has told reporters that “the entire Pentagon is working against” Hegseth’s push for “monumental change” within the Defense Department.