Layoffs haven't let up yet in the nation's capital as the Trump administration nears its 100th day in office.
President Donald Trump's second term started with a bang on many fronts, not the least of which was determining which of the million-plus executive employees should stay and which should go.
Among those who saw a lighter turnover were members of the Department of Defense, considering that the military isn't supposed to be a partisan branch of the federal government.
However, in recent weeks, three top officials from the Pentagon have been relieved of their duties, due to the mishap surrounding the leak of classified information.
As POLITICO reported, a wide-ranging investigation led to Colin Carroll's suspension as the chief of staff to the deputy defense secretary, Stephen Feinberg.
Feinberg was one of three political appointees who were placed on leave due to a probe into the leak of sensitive information.
Among the information that was leaked was military operational plans for the Panama Canal, a military carrier headed to the Red Sea, Elon Musk's controversial visit to the Pentagon, and a pause in the collection of Ukrainian intelligence.
Carroll, who is a Marine Corps Reserve officer, was serving most recently as an employee of Anduril, a defense contractor that specializes in autonomous systems.
The Biden administration reportedly terminated him as chief operating officer of the Pentagon's former Joint Artificial Intelligence Center due to his creation of a hostile environment.
The official stated that security officers escorted Dan Caldwell, who was a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Darin Selnick, the Defense Department's deputy chief of staff, out of the Pentagon and suspended their building access pending further investigation.
Caldwell and Selnick were both previously employed at Concerned Veterans for America, the nonprofit organization that Hegseth previously served as the director.
The incidents reinforced the demands for Hegseth's resignation from Democrats, as this comes close after the head of the Pentagon disclosed classified information in a Signal conversation with other high-ranking officials regarding American military operations in Yemen, several called for his resignation.
“This is now the second major breach of classified information by the most senior political appointees in [Hegseth’s] two months of leadership at DOD,” Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) wrote in a post on X.
“He should never have been appointed based on merit alone, but now he is a national security threat. Hegseth must resign.”
