Former chief Pentagon spokesman and aide to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, John Ullyot, resigned abruptly last week from his post as controversy strikes the critical agency once again. He is now detailing what he describes as a "month from hell" working under Hegseth.
"It's been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president— who deserves better from his senior leadership," Ullyot, who served as the acting assistant to Hegseth for public affairs before resigning last week, wrote in a recent Politico Magazine opinion essay.
"President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account. Given that, it's hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer," he continued.
Ullyot described the department in collapse. He accused Hegseth's team of "falsehoods" about why three top officials were fired last week, saying they hadn't leaked sensitive information to the media. He also chastised Pentagon officials for how they handled revelations that Hegseth shared sensitive military information in a Signal chat, and he pointed to other leaks that caused embarrassment to the administration.
"In short, the building is in disarray under Hegseth's leadership," Ullyot wrote.
On Friday, according to Ullyot, Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, was removed from his position following the firings of several other senior aides to Hegseth, including deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and senior adviser Dan Caldwell, as well as the chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense, Colin Carroll.
Selnick, Caldwell and Carroll said in a statement Saturday: "We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended. Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door." In his recent op-ed, Ullyot showed worries over their firings.
"Hegseth is now presiding over a strange and baffling purge that will leave him without his two closest advisers of over a decade— Caldwell and Selnick— and without chiefs of staff for him and his deputy," Ullyot wrote. "More firings may be coming, according to rumors in the building."
The remarkable accusations by a former official— who still insists he supports the Trump administration's national security policies— underscores the infighting and upheaval that has turned increasingly public in recent weeks.
Ullyot's comments will also likely make more trouble for Hegseth, who remains under investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general for his use of Signal to disclose sensitive information about airstrikes in Yemen.
Complicating matters even further, The New York Times reported Sunday that Hegseth shared detailed information about the strikes in Yemen in a separate private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
The newly revealed chat was created before Hegseth's confirmation in January and was named "Defense | Team Huddle," the report said. The chat included his wife and about a dozen other people from his personal and professional inner circle. He reportedly also used his private phone, rather than his government one, to access the Signal chat.
"The president deserves better than the current mishegoss at the Pentagon. Given his record of holding prior Cabinet leaders accountable, many in the secretary's own inner circle will applaud quietly if Trump chooses to do the same in short order at the top of the Defense Department," Ullyot concluded.
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