Third top Pentagon aide Collin Carroll on administrative leave over leaks probe

A third high-level Pentagon staffer has been placed on administrative leave in two days as part of a probe into media leaks.

Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Secretary Stephen Feinberg, was escorted out of the building on Wednesday, following Dan Caldwell, senior advisor to Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Darin Selnick, deputy chief of staff to Hegseth. 

“We can confirm that Mr. Carroll has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation. We have nothing additional to provide at this time,” a defense official told Fox News Digital. 

Carroll did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

PENTAGON DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF IS SECOND HEGSETH ADVISOR REMOVED AMID DOD LEAK PROBE

Three of Hegseth’s top DOD staffers are on leave over leaking  (Reuters/Yves Herman)

Last month Defense Department (DOD) announced it would launch a probe into “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information” and might employ the use of polygraphs to determine the source of the leaks. 

“The use of polygraphs in the execution of this investigation will be in accordance with applicable law and policy,” DOD Chief of Staff Joe Kasper wrote in a memo. “This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense.”

GENERAL WHO HELPED TRUMP DECIMATE ISIS TERRORISTS IN FIRST TERM CONFIRMED AS JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN

He wrote that “information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure” would be referred for criminal prosecution. 

Caroll, a Marine Corps reservist, most recently worked at defense contractor Anduril, which develops autonomous weapons systems. Both Selnick and Caldwell worked at Concerned Veterans for America, an advocacy group once led by Hegseth. 

Pentagon officials Darin Selnick and Dan Caldwell are being investigated amid the probe (Concerned Veterans for America | Department of Defense)

A probe into leaks at the Pentagon game after reporting about the Pentagon reportedly planning to brief Elon Musk on potential war with China  (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

The Pentagon has not provided specifics about what the three officials are accused of leaking. An official told Politico that the leak concerned Panama Canal plans and Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon and a second aircraft carrier being deployed to the Red Sea. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The DOD followed the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice in announcing it would use polygraphs to root out alleged leakers. But the DOD memo came after President Donald Trump pushed back on a New York Times report that Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk would be briefed on “war plans” with China during a visit to the Pentagon. Trump said he would not show such plans “to anybody.”