At least three people have turned down potential roles working for the defense secretary and former Fox News host. Supporters say his leadership has been effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 The White House is looking for a new chief of staff and several senior advisers to support Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after a series of missteps that have shaken confidence in his leadership, but it has so far found no suitable takers, according to four current and former administration officials and a Republican congressional aide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Top Defense Department jobs, including the defense secretary\u2019s chief of staff, are normally considered prestigious and typically attract multiple qualified candidates. But\u202fat least three people have already turned down potential roles under Hegseth, according to a former U.S. official, the defense official and a person familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vice President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles have taken an active interest in finding ways to help Hegseth after he abruptly suspended two handpicked senior aides in April, accusing them of leaking classified information in a Fox News interview. Soon afterward, Hegseth announced the removal of his chief of staff on Fox News and a senior press aide resigned, writing later that Hegseth\u2019s office was in \u201ctotal chaos.\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vance and Wiles have been searching for candidates who could support Hegseth ever since, according to three current U.S. officials and a former U.S. official. So far, though, the administration has not had much luck identifying people who are either willing to work for Hegseth or who fit the bill politically. And the White House has rejected some people Hegseth wants to hire, while Hegseth has rejected some of the White House\u2019s candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hegseth\u2019s allies dismissed the accounts of infighting and said he is a highly effective defense secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNot a single one of these ridiculous Pentagon palace intrigue stories points to a single thing that\u2019s not getting done at the Pentagon because of the alleged \u2018chaos,\u2019\u201d Arthur Schwartz, a Republican operative with close ties to the Trump administration, said in a statement. \u201cThis is the very definition of manufactured beltway drama that serves no purpose other than to keep reporters of questionable talent employed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vance, Wiles and others have looked for job candidates in some of the traditional places, including inside the White House and on Capitol Hill, according to the second former U.S. official, a defense official and a congressional aide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some candidates have been judged politically problematic,\u202fthe former U.S. official and others familiar with the process said. For example, the White House personnel office has disqualified some for not being MAGA enough,\u202faccording to\u202fthe former U.S. official and a current U.S. official familiar with the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to trying to assist him with hiring, the White House has taken multiple other steps to help \u2014 and manage \u2014 Hegseth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVice President Vance has had Secretary Hegseth\u2019s back since the day President Trump nominated him, and he fully supports the incredible work Pete\u2019s doing at the Pentagon to improve military readiness and drive recruitment numbers to record highs,\u201d Vance spokesman William Martin said in a statement.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another White House official it was typical for the White House to be involved in staffing for key roles\u202facross government. Anna Kelly, a spokeswoman for the White House, said Hegseth enjoys \u201cthe full support\u201d of Trump.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But last month White House officials directed Hegseth to cancel a trip to the Middle East after they learned he planned a stop in Israel, according to a current and a former official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, they put Hegseth on Air Force One to travel with President Donald Trump, who did not include Israel in his itinerary. \u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A different Cabinet official, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, visited Israel several weeks later and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Trump\u2019s request. A person familiar with Hegseth\u2019s planning\u202fsaid\u202fNoem\u2019s trip reflected the White House\u2019s desire to have Netanyahu meet with a trusted messenger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When they arrived at the Pentagon early this year, two senior advisers to Hegseth, Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick, were seen as his close allies \u2014 previous colleagues of his, even friends, whom he had brought in to staff key roles. Caldwell was a senior adviser to Hegseth; Selnick was Hegseth\u2019s deputy chief of staff.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in April, security escorted Caldwell and Selnick, as well as Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, out of the Pentagon in connection with an investigation into allegations of a leak of sensitive information.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a joint statement, the three men called the way were treated \u201cunconscionable\u201d and argued that they were not given any information about the investigation, any leak allegations against them or any evidence that had been found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A little less than a week later, the turmoil around Hegseth worsened. The New York Times reported<\/a> that he had shared sensitive information about an ongoing U.S. military operation in Yemen on a Signal chat that included his wife, his personal attorney and his brother, along with others close to him.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n The revelation came a month after national security adviser Mike Waltz mistakenly added the editor of The Atlantic<\/a> to a separate Signal group chat with Hegseth, Vance and other senior administration officials focused on the same military operation in Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two days after the Times\u2019 story was published, Hegseth went on Fox News and accused Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll not only of leaking information while they were employed at the Pentagon, but also of having given the paper the information about the Signal chat. Hegseth did not publicly describe the evidence against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The drama continued in May when White House officials removed Hegseth and his personal attorney, Tim Parlatore, also a Navy official, from overseeing the investigations into the three suspended aides, according to a current official and a person familiar with the probe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n White House officials shifted responsibility for the probe to the deputy defense secretary, Stephen Feinberg, with whom such an investigation would normally reside. That move, according to two sources familiar with the investigation, was a sign that there is a growing lack of confidence in Hegseth\u2019s ability to objectively oversee the investigation of his former aides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After no evidence against the former aides emerged and it became increasingly clear that the three men were not guilty of leaking, administration officials began to question whether their firings had been hasty, two former administration officials and a current official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Infighting among the Hegseth advisers who remain continued, meanwhile, according to the defense official and a former administration official.\u202fAnd Hegseth himself remains largely isolated,\u202frelying on a small group of advisers, the defense official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hegseth now leans heavily on a former military aide, Ricky Buria, who retired from the military in April hoping\u202fhe could serve as Hegseth\u2019s chief of staff, a civilian position. But\u202fWhite House and Pentagon officials view Buria as a political novice who had\u202freportedly been critical<\/a>\u202fof Trump and Vance in private. (A Defense Department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment from Buria.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, White House officials rejected Hegseth\u2019s plan to hire Buria as his chief of staff, one of the defense officials and an administration official said. Despite that, Buria was seen with Hegseth during his recent trip to Asia in a workout video posted on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since Hegseth joined the administration in January, he has had successes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He expunged diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs from the Pentagon and the military services. Recruiting, particularly in the Army, is up on his watch, continuing a trend that began before Trump\u2019s inauguration but\u202fgained strength under Hegseth, according to Trump administration officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And during his recent trip to Asia, Hegseth was seen as effective in messaging to Beijing to stop any potential aggression in the region, according to current and former administration officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, the turmoil in Hegseth\u2019s front office has contributed to setbacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The infighting helped delay plans for \u201cGolden Dome,\u201d Trump\u2019s signature missile defense program to defend the U.S. homeland, officials said. It has also contributed to the lack of a Pentagon budget, which raised frustrations among Republicans on Capitol Hill, many of whom supported Hegseth in his tight confirmation battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hegseth also approved a China briefing for Elon Musk that included highly sensitive information that Trump canceled after he found about it, according to The New York Times<\/a>. Trump and Hegseth denied the account, but a former and a current official said Hegseth\u2019s misstep affected Trump\u2019s view of Hegseth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hegseth\u2019s role in the use of Signal to share sensitive military information remains a problem for him, and it is likely to resurface soon. A Pentagon inspector general report, which is likely to be completed within weeks, is expected to conclude that Hegseth shared classified information on the Signal chat, according to multiple officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some administration officials, including Vance and his aides, worry that the results of the investigation will further weaken Hegseth, according to a current administration and a former administration official.\u202fHegseth\u2019s allies predict that his tenure will continue. <\/p>\n\n\n\nSuccesses and setbacks<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n