President Donald Trump has intervened to allow Ricky Buria, one of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's top advisers, to retire from the U.S. Marine Corps as a colonel, using an exception that allows him to use a waiver to bypass a federal law requiring military officers to hold a rank for three years before they can retire with it.
According to a statement from service officials to The Washington Post, Buria's retirement became official earlier this month, and if there are no disciplinary actions, he will officially be referred to as a retired colonel, after holding the rank just since November 2024.
A president can intervene in the law and allow the retirement in cases that involve "extreme hardship or exceptional or unusual circumstances."
The waiver is not expected to increase Buria's government pension, as that is based on his pay over the top three years of his career in the Marines, a source, speaking under the condition of anonymity, told the Post.
The Trump decision allows Buria, 43, to keep his recent military ranking, which can prove important in his future career.
The White House referred questions to the Pentagon, which previously declined to comment on whether Buria would receive the waiver.
On Monday, however, spokesman Joel Valdez said that Buria has "served our country for over 20 years" and that "a grateful nation always thanks its veterans and active duty service members."
Buria, as a Marine Corps pilot, served in deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Trump's move is a shift for the administration's stance on Buria, after it blocked his permanent appointment as Hegseth's chief of staff in May because of his past criticisms of the president and Vice President JD Vance.
Buria is a Biden administration holdover, but became Hegseth's acting chief of staff after Joe Kasper stepped down and was reassigned to another Pentagon position.
He still has not been approved for the role permanently.
Buria, meanwhile, reportedly encouraged Hegseth in firing several high-level personnel amid ongoing leak investigations.
At the time, a Buria critic told the New York Post that Hegseth was elevating a "Democrat who does not share the vice president's or the president's worldview and who weaponized his position to push out internal rivals, including people who had very strong histories of being supporters of the MAGA agenda."
In February, Buria slammed Trump's decision to use Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to facilitate deportations and using military aircraft to remove illegal immigrants as a "dumb waste of money."
He has also derided Vance's views as "wackamamie crazy" and "isolationist" views, the New York Post reported.
Buria initially submitted his paperwork for retirement in April while hoping to become Hegseth's chief of staff, which he has continued to hold on an acting basis.
He has served as a junior military assistant to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, but earned Hegseth's trust after he was held over as a military aide when Trump returned to Washington.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.