Joe Kasper, the departing chief of staff, leaves the role voluntarily and will become a part-time special government employee with a focus on science, technology and industry, he told The Washington Post, though his exact role and title were not yet clear. The designation means he may work up to 130 days as a government employee in any one 365-day period, in similar fashion to a role that billionaire Elon Musk has held in the Trump administration while overseeing dramatic cuts to the federal government.
Kasper had been discussing the move with colleagues for weeks, and Hegseth appeared to allude to the possibility in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday. Kasper, he said, is a “great American,” and was “certainly not fired.”
Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, did not respond to a request for comment.
Kasper’s final departure had been forecast for days, and was reported earlier by Politico. His exit follows weeks of friction between him and Hegseth’s other senior advisers, and questions about how the Pentagon is being managed under the former Fox News personality and the leadership he assembled upon taking office just three months ago.
The spate of departures and firings — which also have targeted nearly a dozen senior military officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Navy’s top admiral — is a mark of disruption and instability the likes of which the Pentagon has seldom experienced.
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