The new senior advisers include Col. Ricky Buria, a former junior military assistant, Patrick Weaver, a former Defense Department “special assistant,” and Justin Fulcher, a top DOGE official placed at the Pentagon.
Sean Parnell, who had been the Pentagon press secretary, has been promoted to assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs and senior adviser.
“Regular workforce adjustments are a feature of any highly efficient organization,” the Pentagon’s acting press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement announcing the new roles.
“Secretary Hegseth will continue to be proactive with personnel decisions and will work hard to ensure the Department of Defense has the right people in the right positions to execute President Trump’s agenda,” she added.
The statement belies the recent upheaval at the department, where earlier this month top staffers Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll, and Darin Selnick were removed after being accused of leaking information, though the three men deny it.
Another Pentagon spokesperson, John Ullyot, decided to leave the building, which he said was in “total chaos” under Hegseth’s leadership.
And Hegseth’s chief of staff Joe Kasper, who was initially set to take another job in the building, this week chose to leave the Pentagon and return to the private sector, though he will still remain a special government employee.
All the turmoil comes as Hegseth has been under siege after revelations of a second Signal chat group in which he allegedly shared highly sensitive information about U.S. airstrikes against Houthi militants in Yemen with his wife, brother, lawyer and others in his inner circle.
The four men named to the new Pentagon positions do not appear to have much experience in government.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
