Washington (CNN) — Colin Carroll, the chief of staff of Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg, has been placed on administrative leave amid an ongoing investigation, two defense sources said Wednesday, the third such official to be placed on leave reported this week.
One defense source told CNN that Carroll was escorted out of the Pentagon and that the recent spate of Pentagon officials being investigated was related to disagreements with the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff Joe Kasper.
“This is a purge of people who had disagreements with the Pentagon chief of staff,” the defense source said.
Carroll was sworn in in January. His being placed on administrative leave comes a day after two other senior political appointees of Hegseth’s — senior adviser Dan Caldwell, and deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick — were also placed on administrative leave. Caldwell is being investigated over an alleged unauthorized disclosure, CNN previously reported.
This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
