Another senior Pentagon employee has departed—but unlike three top advisers fired last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's chief of staff wasn't escorted out of the building by security. Joe Kasper tells Politico that he is leaving the role and plans to return to government relations and consulting work. He tells the Washington Post that he will still advise the administration on science, technology, and industry as a part-time government employee. On Tuesday, Hegseth told Fox & Friends that Kasper would be departing but stressed that he wasn't being fired. "Joe is a great guy, great American," Hegseth said. "He has done a fantastic job for us at the Defense Department."
Kasper's departure follows what the Post calls "weeks of friction" between him and other senior aides, including three with longstanding ties to Hegseth who were fired last week in a leaks investigation. "Kasper did not like that those guys had the secretary's ear," a source tells Politico. "He did not like that they had walk-in and hanging-out privileges in the office. He wanted them out. It was a knife fight." Sources tell the Post that Hegseth, who fired numerous senior officers in his first months at the Pentagon, is becoming increasingly isolated and is "keenly focused on daily news coverage dissecting his missteps and decision-making."
In a March 21 memo after the SignalGate scandal emerged, Kasper warned Pentagon staffers that polygraphs could be used in the leaks investigation. The Wall Street Journal, citing defense sources, reports that Hegseth threatened several top officials after word leaked that Elon Musk would receive a classified briefing on China. Hegseth shouted, "I'll hook you up to a f------ polygraph" at Adm. Christopher Grady, the then-acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the sources say. In a Politico opinion piece Sunday, former top Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot described a "month of chaos" at the department. (More Pete Hegseth stories.)
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