Latest news with #TimParlatore
The Guardian
31-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
US defense secretary's aides reportedly used polygraphs to root out leaks
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth's senior aides conducted polygraphs on their own colleagues this spring, in some cases as part of an effort to flush out anyone who leaked to the media and apparently to undercut rivals in others, according to four people familiar with the matter. The polygraphs came at a time of profound upheaval in his office, as Hegseth opened a leak investigation and sought to identify the culprits by any means necessary after a series of sensitive disclosures and unflattering stories. But the polygraphs became contentious after the aides who were targeted questioned whether they were even official, given at least one polygraph was ordered without Hegseth's direct knowledge and sparked an intervention by a Trump adviser who does not work at the Pentagon. The fraught episode involved Hegseth's lawyer and part-time navy commander Tim Parlatore seeking to polygraph Patrick Weaver, a senior adviser to the secretary who was at the White House in Donald Trump's first term and has ties to deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, the people said. When Weaver learned of his impending polygraph, he complained to associates that he had been suspected without evidence, the people said. That led the external Trump adviser to take his complaint to Hegseth – only for Hegseth to say he did not even know about the test. The external Trump adviser called Parlatore on his cell phone to shut down the impending polygraph, shouting down the line that in Trump's second term, career employees did not get to question political appointees, according to two people familiar with the conversation. Weaver does not appear to have escalated his complaint to the White House, telling associates that he preferred not to bother Miller with problems. Earlier reports suggested the White House intervened on Weaver's behalf but the people said the White House learned of it after it was cancelled. A White House spokesperson declined to comment. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement: 'The Department will not comment on an ongoing investigation.' The extraordinary episode underscored ongoing concerns around Hegseth's ability to manage the Pentagon – he is still facing an inspector general report into his disclosure in a Signal chat about US strikes against the Houthis – and why a Trump adviser ended up staging an intervention. Weaver's cancelled polygraph was earlier reported by the Washington Post. But the effort at the Pentagon to weed out leakers with lie detector tests continued against uniformed military officers even after the incident with Weaver, three of the people said. Hegseth's then-military aide and current acting chief of staff Ricky Buria at one point ordered polygraphs against several people connected to possible and perceived rivals at the Pentagon including senior adviser Eric Geressy, despite his own polygraph coming back as inconclusive. Buria, who is said not to care for Geressy, did not order a polygraph against him in the wake of the Weaver incident. Instead, the people said, he ordered polygraphs for officers who worked for Geressy, including Hegseth's military assistants Capt William Francis, a former navy Seal, and Col Mike Loconsolo. In an additional twist, the polygraphs for the uniformed officials became fraught after one person complained his had not been conducted by the Defense Intelligence Agency but a defense department contractor, and was separately told his polygraph could just double as being for his regular background investigation, two people familiar with the matter said. Hegseth himself threatened polygraphs to catch leakers, including against two top military officials, the Wall Street Journal earlier reported: navy Adm Christopher Grady, the vice chair of the joint chiefs of staff, and army Lt Gen Douglas Sims, the director of the joint staff. According to two people familiar with the case of Sims, Buria had privately suggested that he might have played a role in leaking a classified plan for the Panama canal to NBC News, among other transgressions that included an allegation that Sims had been disrespectful. While it does not appear that Sims was actually polygraphed, Hegseth revoked his promotion to a four star general, despite earlier agreeing to the move at the recommendation of multiple career and political officials, the New York Times earlier reported. Hegseth told Sims that his connections to Gen Mark Milley, the former chief of the joint staff that Trump hates, were disqualifying – although Sims had ironically helped remove Milley's portrait off the wall at the Pentagon when Hegseth arrived at the Pentagon, one of the people said. Several officials, including the chairman of the joint chiefs Gen Dan Caine, told Hegseth that Sims was not a leaker and deserved better. Hegseth told officials he would sleep on it but never revisited the matter, the people said.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pentagon probes examine key Hegseth allies
Two of the Pentagon's top investigative bodies are digging into a pair of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's close aides and their role in the controversy surrounding government use of the Signal app to discuss sensitive information, according to three people familiar with the probes. The Defense Department Inspector General's office first opened an investigation in early April into whether Hegseth violated the agency's standards for sharing classified information by using the commercial messaging app to discuss active attack plans in Yemen. As part of that probe, investigators are looking into whether senior Hegseth aide Ricky Buria helped the Pentagon chief set up an unsecured internet line that bypassed the agency's security protocols and allowed Hegseth to access Signal, according to the three people, all of whom were interviewed recently by officials about the situation. The Signal app is not approved for government use when discussing classified information because of security concerns. In a separate inquiry led by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, a federal law enforcement agency within the Pentagon, investigators are asking whether Buria could have been a source for leaks when he sat in on sensitive meetings as a military aide earlier this year and had access to Hegseth's devices, according to the three people. Investigators for the Air Force agency, known as OSI, also want to know whether the Pentagon chief's personal attorney, Tim Parlatore — who serves as a top DOD adviser — attended meetings beyond his clearance level where classified information was discussed, and his role investigating the leaks, the three people said. The focus of the DOD probes on the two top Hegseth aides has not been previously reported. The inquiries into the actions of Hegseth and his inner circle could further destabilize the Pentagon's top ranks after a spate of firings in a leak investigation left the Defense secretary without a chief of staff or a top policy adviser for months. The Air Force investigation began this spring. 'Ricky and Tim are some of the folks that they're zeroing in on as they try to get to the root of everything,' said one of the people familiar with the two probes. This person, like the others, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive ongoing investigations. Buria didn't respond to a request for comment, while Parlatore declined to comment. The DOD IG declined to comment, citing longstanding policy not to talk publicly about the scope or timeline of oversight projects. The Air Force declined to discuss details about the probe. Buria, the top military aide who recently transitioned to a senior DOD civilian job, and Parlatore, Hegseth's longtime lawyer, have emerged as two of the Pentagon chief's most trusted allies. But officials have hinted that the administration's patience may be wearing thin from repeated missteps by Hegseth and his close allies— including catching much of Washington off guard on key policy decisions ranging from the freeze of Ukraine military aid to reviewing the AUKUS submarine deal. That Defense Department investigators have homed in on Buria and Parlatore also represents a possible step forward in a probe that has consumed the Pentagon for months. The Pentagon IG probe came after reports in The Atlantic that Hegseth in March had used Signal to discuss details of military operations in Yemen with top Trump administration officials. Questions the IG investigators have asked witnesses include, 'Who wrote the information attributed to the Secretary of Defense in The Atlantic regarding the 'Houthi PC Small Group' Signal chat?' and 'Please describe who was present with the Secretary of Defense on March 15, 2025,' the day he sent the messages, according to an email to potential witnesses ahead of interviews and obtained by POLITICO. The questions were first reported by the Associated Press. Investigators have asked about the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of the Signal app, how extensively Hegseth used it and the veracity of messages reported by The Atlantic, according to the three people and the emails. The IG and OSI have also questioned witnesses about whether they were ever asked to delete Signal messages off their phones, according to two of the people, which could violate federal records laws, such as the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act. These may carry civil and administrative penalties. Officials can also be sentenced to jail time and forced to pay fines if they are found guilty of removing classified information or destroying government records under similar laws. One of the people said that OSI investigators asked by name whether Buria or Parlatore made those requests. The Pentagon did not answer questions about probes into Hegseth or his allies at the Defense Department, but it championed the Pentagon chief's resume. 'Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has successfully reoriented the Department of Defense to put the interests of America's Warfighters and America's taxpayers first, and it has never been better positioned to execute on its mission than it is today,' Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell said in an emailed statement. 'The success speaks for itself.' An Air Force spokesperson confirmed OSI is 'conducting an investigation into allegations of unauthorized disclosures' on behalf of Hegseth's office, but declined to comment on the specifics of the probe. One of the people with knowledge of the matter said the investigators have been talking to witnesses since late April. The investigations have intensified questions about Hegseth's leadership in the department, one of the people familiar with the probe said. POLITICO previously reported that Hegseth was deferring to U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Erik Kurilla as planning for American military strikes against Iran ramped up last month. U.S. allies have also been caught off guard by the Pentagon's abrupt pause of some weapons shipments to Ukraine. Hegseth's closest allies maintain that he has played a key role in the strikes, pushing NATO allies to a 5 percent defense spending target, and boosting recruiting. 'None of this would have been possible without the complete unity and discipline of the OSD team and the vision and leadership of our commander-in-chief," Parnell said in the statement. Parlatore's presence in Hegseth's inner circle has raised questions about conflicts of interest, as he has been involved in multiple legal cases opposing the U.S. government, including defending retired four-star Adm. Robert Burke against charges of alleged corruption. Parlatore, who has said he doesn't market himself to clients as a Navy reservist or a Hegseth adviser, has dismissed the notion that his lawsuits represent an issue.
The Independent
13-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Signalgate changed Pete Hegseth — texting scandal made him angrier, paranoid and paralyzed by fear: report
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has become more paranoid, fearful and angry in the wake of the so-called 'Signal-gate' scandal that saw the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic included on a chat platform conversation with top national security officials as a drone strike was underway against Houthi rebels in Yemen, a new report reveals. Six people told New York magazine that Hegseth was noticeably changed by the ordeal. They said he seemed angrier, did not bother to shave as often and seemed afraid to make the wrong decision after Signal-gate. One source said that the Pentagon seemed to stop being 'creative.' Another source said the scandal was 'consuming his whole life' at a time 'when he should have been focused on, you know, our national security.' Hegseth also began to regularly have his personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, and his wife, Jennifer, around, which confused foreign officials. In addition, other news outlets reported that Hegseth had a second group chat going with Parlatore, his wife and his brother and had set up an unsecured internet line in his office. Word of the embarrassing potential breach of national security broke in March, when then-National Security Advisor Michael Waltz added Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, onto a text chain on the messaging app Signal where the Trump administration's national security team discussed striking Houthi targets in Yemen. The scandal immediately put Hegseth--who faced a narrow confirmation in the Senate earlier this year due to his views on women in the military, reports of drinking on the job and allegations of sexual misconduct that he vehemently denied--under heavy scrutiny. In response, Hegseth assailed Goldberg. 'You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again to include the hoaxes of Russia, Russia, Russia,' he said at the time. He said that nobody texted war plans. That led to Goldberg publishing screenshots of the full text messages, which showed that the administration officials had indeed been texting what looked like war plans. Earlier this week, Hegseth appeared on Capitol Hill to answer questions about Trump's deployment of Marines to quell anti-ICE riots and demonstrations in Los Angeles. He also faced aggressive questioning about the US having contingency plans to invade Greenland and Panama. The magazine profiled Hegseth's distress after NBC News reported the story about the plans to 'reclaim' Panama and he told his chief of staff Joseph Kasper that he wanted an investigation. The Pentagon further plunged into disarray when the press reported that the Pentagon had ordered a second carrier into the Red Sea. Hegseth defended the fact that sending troops to Los Angeles cost $134 million. The magazine profile went into deeper detail about the dismissal of Hegseth's allies in the Pentagon, including his advisers Dan Caldwell, Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll. Kasper, Hegseth's chief of staff, believed that Colin tried to get Kasper fired through a report by the Pentagon's inspector general about Kasper's alleged drug use. 'That's what pisses me off the most,' Carroll said. 'I don't want a secretary of defense that can't even f***ing fire people properly and not have it rebound back on his ass. Pete can't even be a good villain.' Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell denied claims of disarray under Hegseth's tenure. 'Claims of chaos at the Pentagon under Secretary Hegseth are false,' he said. 'When members of the legacy media lie, they disrespect the brave servicemembers and civilians who selflessly serve our country.' At the moment, Hegseth no longer has a chief of staff or deputy chief of staff.
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Hegseth aide upended Pentagon leak inquiry with false wiretap claims
Days before Pete Hegseth fired three top aides last month over a Pentagon leak investigation into the disclosure of classified materials, according to four people familiar with the episode, a recently hired senior adviser said he could help with the inquiry. The adviser, Justin Fulcher, suggested to Hegseth's then chief of staff Joe Kasper and Hegseth's personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, that he knew of warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) that had identified the leakers. Fulcher offered to share the supposed evidence as long as he could help run the investigation, three of the people said. But when he sat down with agents over a week later, it became clear he had no evidence of a wiretap, and the Pentagon had been duped. The problem was that before investigators debunked the claims by Fulcher, who was previously found to have embellished his resume, the damage was done: Trump advisers had been told by Parlatore about 'smoking gun' evidence incriminating three aides, and Hegseth had already fired them. The Guardian revealed last month that there were unsubstantiated NSA warrantless wiretap claims underpinning the leak investigation, but its origin story and the involvement of Fulcher in the controversy has not been previously reported. Fulcher has said this account is not correct. In a statement, he said he never suggested there were NSA wiretaps or that he had access to wiretap records. 'I never approached Parlatore, Kasper or anyone else offering 'surveillance evidence' and did not ask to join an investigation on that or any other basis,' he said. The extraordinary episode adds to the growing portrait of dysfunction inside Hegseth's front office, which is involved in setting the direction of a department that has a budget of nearly $1tn and oversees more than 2 million troops around the world. The investigation prompted Hegseth to fire senior adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief Darin Selnick and the deputy secretary's chief of staff Colin Carroll, creating a leadership vacuum filled by Ricky Buria, the ex-junior military aide to Hegseth considered by the White House to be a liability. And with the implosion of the leak investigation adding to the fraught tensions among his aides, Hegseth is expected to face bruising questions about his ability to manage the Pentagon when he appears at a series of so-called defense posture hearings starting this week on Capitol Hill. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on the reporting in this story. A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Fulcher started at the Pentagon on the first day of the Trump administration as the lead staffer for Doge ('department of government efficiency'), armed with a top secret/sensitive compartmented information clearance and a mandate from Elon Musk to oversee mass cuts at the defense department, the people said. The Doge team were given offices a few doors down from the defense secretary's offices, and when Fulcher first introduced himself to Hegseth's senior staff, he talked about having once worked for the NSA and how he had run various startups, the people said. The senior staff's relationship with Fulcher was collegial – unlike those of Doge staffers with other agencies, which were adversarial – and no one checked whether he had connections to the NSA. They also did not follow up on a Forbes article published in March that concluded he had embellished parts of his resume. Ironically, that close working relationship was initially the cause of his downfall after he was seen by Musk and the Doge leadership, including Steve Davis and spokesperson Katie Miller, as too close to the defense department and not willing enough to make drastic cuts, the people said. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion At the start of April, Musk replaced Fulcher as the Doge lead at the Pentagon. But Hegseth liked Fulcher, who had recently traveled with the secretary on an official trip to Panama, and Fulcher was brought on as a senior adviser. The details of Fulcher's responsibilities were not clear externally or internally, and he earned the nickname 'Disa' standing for 'director of suspicious affairs' – apparently a play on the acronym for the Defense Information Systems Agency. Around that time, Hegseth had ordered an investigation into the leaks, with the central focus being on the disclosure to a reporter of an allegedly top secret document that outlined options for Donald Trump to 'reclaim' the Panama canal, including with using US troops on the ground. It was not immediately clear why Fulcher chose to become involved in the investigation, but several days after he was let go as the Doge lead, he went to Kasper and expressed a willingness to help with the investigation, which Kasper attributed to him wanting to prove his worth, two of the people said. Kasper told Fulcher to go to Parlatore, who had been tasked with supervising and managing the investigation. When Fulcher approached Parlatore, he suggested that he knew of NSA intercepts supposedly showing that Caldwell had leaked using his personal phone, the two people said. Looking back on the chain of events, three people familiar with the conversations described Fulcher's claims as conveniently dovetailing with prevailing suspicions at the time about Caldwell printing lots of documents and his efforts to have the leak investigation shut down. Still, a cursory check at that stage into the NSA claims would have shown them to be false. Pentagon investigators concluded in the weeks after the firings that there was no authorized or unauthorized wiretap through the NSA, which is a component of the defense department. The claims were relayed to Hegseth and the White House as being accurate. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing the three aides had been fired as they 'leaked against their boss', while Hegseth predicted on Fox News they would be prosecuted although there has been no referral to date to the justice department.
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
White House stunned as Hegseth inquiry brings up illegal wiretap claims
The White House has lost confidence in a Pentagon leak investigation that Pete Hegseth used to justify firing three top aides last month, after advisers were told that the aides had supposedly been outed by an illegal warrantless National Security Agency (NSA) wiretap. The extraordinary explanation alarmed the advisers, who also raised it with people close to JD Vance, because such a wiretap would almost certainly be unconstitutional and an even bigger scandal than a number of leaks. But the advisers found the claim to be untrue and complained that they were being fed dubious information by Hegseth's personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, who had been tasked with overseeing the investigation. The episode, as recounted by four people familiar with the matter, marked the most extraordinary twist in the investigation examining the leak of an allegedly top secret document that outlined options for the US military to reclaim the Panama canal to a reporter. The advisers were stunned again when Parlatore denied having told anyone about an illegal NSA wiretap himself and maintained that any information he had was passed on to him by others at the Pentagon. The leak was first attributed internally to Hegseth's senior adviser, Dan Caldwell, who was escorted out of the Pentagon and fired last month alongside two other aides, Hegseth's former deputy chief of staff, Darin Selnick, and the deputy defense secretary's chief of staff Colin Carroll. But the illegal wiretap claim and Caldwell's denials fueled a breakdown in trust between the Pentagon and the White House, where the Trump advisers tracking the investigation have privately suggested they no longer have any idea about who or what to believe. In particular, one Trump adviser recently told Hegseth that he did not think Caldwell – or any of the fired aides – had leaked anything, and that he suspected the investigation had been used to get rid of aides involved in the infighting with his first chief of staff, Joe Kasper. The fraught situation is sure to increase pressure on Hegseth ahead of a Senate hearing next month, and more broadly for his office, which has been roiled by the leak investigation that has now continued for nearly a month with no new evidence or referral to the FBI. The fallout has left Hegseth with no chief or deputy chief of staff, as he relies on six senior advisers to run his front office, which is involved in setting the direction of the defense department that has a budget of nearly $1tn and oversees more than two million troops. And while Hegseth's former junior military aide Ricky Buria has effectively assumed the job of the chief of staff, the White House has blocked Hegseth from giving him the job permanently on account of his limited experience and role in internal office drama. The Pentagon declined to comment on reporting for this story. A spokesperson for the White House said in a statement: 'President Trump is confident in the secretary's ability to ensure top leadership at the Department of Defense shares their focus on restoring a military that is focused on readiness, lethality, and excellence.' The skepticism among the Trump advisers is widely seen as a product of several developments that started shortly after the suspensions of Caldwell and Selnick on 15 April, followed by the suspension of Carroll on 16 April, according to seven people familiar with the matter. After the aides were fired on 18 April and issued a joint statement denying wrongdoing, the White House received its first briefing on the firings. At that juncture, a handful of Trump advisers in the West Wing and elsewhere were told there was evidence that Caldwell had printed a document on US military plans for the Panama canal classified at the top secret level, took a photo, and sent it to an reporter using his personal phone. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion But the advisers grew uneasy in the ensuing weeks after Caldwell appeared on former Fox News host Tucker Carlson's podcast, denouncing their firings as the product of internal office politics at the Pentagon and alleging that the investigation had become weaponized against them. They also then learned of a rumor at the Pentagon that Air Force office of special investigations (OSI), which had been working the case for weeks beforehand, had possibly identified the leaked Panama canal document by virtue of the fact that it was a draft that lacked certain details that were in the final version of the document. As the rumor went, the document had led Air Force OSI to focus its investigation on mid-level aides who worked in the US Southern or Central Command or for the joint chiefs of staff, and had not been told to focus on the activities of the three aides until the weekend after they had been fired. It was not immediately clear whether the the rumor was correct or even from where it emerged. But it appears to have spurred the White House to press Parlatore to disclose the evidence against Caldwell, including how the Pentagon knew what was on his phone. At first, Parlatore rebuffed the attempts to obtain the underlying evidence, noting it was inappropriate for the executive branch to insert itself into an ongoing criminal investigation that he said could still yield charges. But towards the end of April, according to what the Trump advisers shared inside the White House, Parlatore suggested that there had been a warrantless wiretap on Caldwell's phone. Parlatore has denied making such a claim when confronted by associates, and has generally maintained during the investigation that he has only passed along information briefed to him by others. Reached by phone on Monday, Parlatore referred questions to the Pentagon press office. Still, the Trump advisers who reeled from the claim also eventually told Hegseth they were concerned by the optics of Parlatore, who had been close to the former chief of staff Kasper, running an investigation that targeted Kasper's perceived enemies in the office. The warrantless wiretap episode was not formally resolved. The investigation was transferred to deputy defense secretary Stephen Feinberg's office around the time that Parlatore had planned to step away to prepare for the trial of another client, Adm Robert Burke, on federal bribery charges. Parlatore remains a close confidant of Hegseth and he retained his ability to make recommendations in the investigation, according to two people familiar with the situation. Commissioned by Hegseth as a commander in the navy reserve, he is subject to the uniform code of military justice and cannot be directly fired.
