John Ullyot, a former senior official at the Department of Defense and close associate of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who departed last week from his position as Acting Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs after being sidelined for the role of Chief Pentagon Spokesman by Sean Parnell, has written an op-ed released tonight in Politico, claiming a scene of dysfunction, backstabbing and continuous missteps at the Pentagon which will likely soon lead to the removal of Hegseth.
Ullyot, who describes himself a longtime backer and friend of Pete Hegseth, paints a month of “total chaos” at the Pentagon, culminating in the firing of three of Hegseth’s most loyal senior staffers last week, Dan Caldwell, Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, with rumors of additional firings to come. “In the aftermath, Defense Department officials working for Hegseth tried to smear the aides anonymously to reporters, claiming they were fired for leaking sensitive information as part of an investigation ordered earlier this month. Yet none of this is true. While the department said that it would conduct polygraph tests as part of the probe, not one of the three has been given a lie detector test. In fact, at least one of them has told former colleagues that investigators advised him he was about to be cleared officially of any wrongdoing. Unfortunately, Hegseth’s team has developed a habit of spreading flat-out, easily debunked falsehoods anonymously about their colleagues on their way out the door,” Ullyot added.
After discussing last week’s wave of firings, Ullyot proceeds to at least partially confirm and describe several of the recent scandals at the Pentagon since March, including Signalgate, Hegseth’s confusing and continued denial of any wrongdoing afterwards, Hegseth’s decision to bring his wife Jennifer to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, a top-secret briefing at the Pentagon for Elon Musk detailing war plans against China which was eventually canceled by the White House, last week’s purges, and finally tonight’s story about another Signal chat created by Hegseth with his wife and brother in which additional information about the strikes against Yemen were discussed.
Ullyot then ends his op-ed by stating, “In the first three months of his second term, Trump has continued that great record on national security, in particular refocusing the Defense Department on its core mission of preparing to fight and win wars. Unfortunately, after a terrible month, the Pentagon focus is no longer on warfighting, but on endless drama. The president deserves better than the current mishegoss at the Pentagon. Given his record of holding prior Cabinet leaders accountable, many in the secretary’s own inner circle will applaud quietly if Trump chooses to do the same in short order at the top of the Defense Department.”
