Top Hegseth adviser escorted out of Pentagon as part of probe into Houthi text leak

An adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was escorted out of the Pentagon as part of the investigation into the leak about a military operation against the Houthi terror group.

Dan Caldwell, a Marine Corps veteran who was deployed to Iraq, was placed on administrative leave over "an unauthorized disclosure," according to a U.S. official who spoke to Reuters.

'We can confirm the Reuters reporting is accurate ...'

Caldwell was included in the text chain, published by the Atlantic, of officials in the Defense Department and others who were planning the military attack. The text conversation was inadvertently leaked when the outlet's editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was included as one of the text participants.

Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, called for an investigation into the embarrassing leak in a memo signed on March 21.

Jennifer Griffin of Fox News confirmed the report through a top U.S. official.

"We can confirm the Reuters reporting is accurate, but we do not comment on ongoing investigations," the official said to Griffin.

Critics of the administration pointed out that sensitive and classified information should not have been sent over unsecured applications like the one used for the Houthi strike group.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that war plans were leaked and went on the offensive against Goldberg.

"Jeffrey Goldberg is well known for his sensationalist spin. Here are the facts about his latest story," said Leavitt at the time.

This is a developing story, and additional information may be added.

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