Exclusive: The White House is looking to replace Pete Hegseth as defense secretary

By Tom Bowman
April 21, 2025

Photo: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

The White House has begun the process of looking for a new leader at the Pentagon to replace Pete Hegseth, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. This comes as Hegseth is again mired in controversy over sharing military operational details in a group chat.

The defense secretary is under fire after revelations that he shared classified information in a group chat with his wife, brother and lawyer, according to the official.

The source said Hegseth used the Signal messaging app on his personal smartphone, detailing minute-by-minute classified information about airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. It happened at about the same time in March that Hegseth shared similar details with top White House officials in a different Signal chat group that accidentally included a journalist. That leak, hours before air strikes hit, could have endangered U..S. pilots if that information about the timing of strikes was intercepted by U.S. adversaries. Already the Houthis have twice shot down American predator drones.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that there’s an effort to replace Hegseth, posting on X that President Trump “stands strongly” behind him. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump backed Hegseth and said concerns over the Signal chats are a “waste of time.”

“He’s doing a great job — ask the Houthis how he’s doing,” Trump said.

Hegseth had denied wrongdoing at a White House Easter event earlier Monday.

“This is what the media does, they take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees, and then they try to slash and burn people, ruin their reputation. It’s not going to work with me,” he said.

Hegseth was likely referring to four senior advisers who left the Pentagon abruptly last week. Former Defense Department spokesperson John Ullyot resigned and then published an opinion piece calling the past month at the Pentagon a “full-blown meltdown” of infighting that is hurting President Trump.

Three other Pentagon advisers — Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll, and Darin Selnick — were escorted out of the Pentagon and accused of leaking information to the press. The trio then put out a joint statement on X calling their dismissal “unconscionable” and saying they have not even been told what they stand accused of leaking.

“All three of us served our country honorably in uniform — for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it,” they wrote.

Caldwell and Selnik are longtime associates of Hegseth who worked with him at Concerned Veterans for America, a right-leaning policy group.

New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that Hegseth should accept responsibility.

“But we must not forget that ultimate responsibility here lies with President Trump for selecting a former weekend TV host, without any experience successfully leading a large and complex organization, to run our government’s biggest department and make life and death decisions for our military and country,” she said.

NPR disclosure: Katherine Maher, the CEO of NPR, chairs the board of the Signal Foundation.

TAGS: fourmoreyears, Pete Hegseth, Trump administration

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