Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is embroiled in yet another scandal now that allegations indicate that he used an unauthorized National Security Agency (NSA) wiretap to spy on and fire top Pentagon officials last month.
Per The Guardian, Trump loyalists were deeply alarmed by the suggestion that the NSA may have conducted an illegal wiretap—a move that would almost certainly violate constitutional protections.
Advisers raised the issue with individuals close to Vice President JD Vance. However, after further inquiry, they concluded that the claim was baseless. Frustration mounted as they accused Hegseth’s personal attorney, Tim Parlatore—who had been put in charge of investigating the leak—of circulating unreliable information.
Advisers were further taken aback when Parlatore denied ever asserting that the NSA had conducted an illegal wiretap. He insisted that any such claims had come to him secondhand, reportedly from contacts within the Pentagon.
The fallout has left Hegseth without a chief or deputy chief of staff, creating a leadership vacuum. In the interim, Hegseth’s former junior military aide, Ricky Buria, has informally stepped into the chief of staff role.
However, the White House has reportedly barred Hegseth from appointing Buria to the position permanently, citing his lack of senior-level experience and his involvement in recent internal disputes.
Many have criticized Hegseth, noting that the scandal underscores the continued instability within the Department of Defense.
The news of the illegal wiretap may surpass the gravity of an ongoing probe into the leak of a purportedly top secret document outlining potential U.S. military strategies to retake control of the Panama Canal.
According to two individuals briefed on the matter, the leak was attributed to senior adviser Dan Caldwell, one of three aides recently dismissed.
The same sources said Caldwell was suspected of disclosing the classified document because he opposed the proposed military strategies for reclaiming control of the canal—one of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy aims. However, Caldwell has firmly denied being the source of the leak.
The Pentagon has in recent weeks already been rocked by revelations that Hegseth shared details about U.S. military operations in Yemen using his personal phone in a 13-person Signal group chat that included his wife and brother—despite a prior warning from an aide advising him not to share sensitive information over an unsecure channel ahead of the operation.
Before that, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he was invited into a Signal chat with high-level Trump administration officials, particularly Hegseth and Vance, discussing military strategy surrounding war strikes in Yemen.
