Pentagon says leak probe may lead to U.S. prosecutions

Source: Reuters

April 22, 2025 12:18 PM EDT Updated 6 hours ago


WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Tuesday of possible prosecutions of former senior advisors who were fired during a probe into leaks of Pentagon information to the media, saying evidence would be handed over to the Department of Justice once the investigation is completed.

Dan Caldwell, who was one of Hegseth's top advisors, and two other senior officials were fired on Friday after being escorted out of the Pentagon. But they have denied any wrongdoing and said they have been told nothing about any alleged crimes. Hegseth, who has come under fire for using unclassified messaging system Signal to discuss plans to attack Yemen's Houthi group, left open the possibility that individuals could be exonerated during the investigation but played down those chances.

"If those people are exonerated, fantastic. We don't think -- based on what we understand -- that it's going to be a good day for a number of those individuals because of what was found in the investigation," Hegseth told Fox News. Hegseth said there had been a number of leaks that triggered the investigation, including about military options to ensure U.S. access to the Panama Canal and Elon Musk's visit to the Pentagon.

"We said enough is enough. We're going to launch a leak investigation," Hegseth said. "We took it seriously. It led to some unfortunate places, people I have known for quite some time. But it's not my job to protect them. It's my job to protect national security." He said evidence would eventually be handed over to the Department of Justice.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pentagon-says-leak-probe-may-lead-us-prosecutions-2025-04-22/