The three Pentagon officials placed on leave this week amid an investigation into leaks at the Department of Defense say they are "incredibly disappointed" in how their service ended and that they have not been told anything about the probe.
"We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended. Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door," Dan Caldwell, the former senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who was removed from his post earlier this week, posted on X Saturday.
The statement was also attributed to Colin Carroll, the former chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, and Darin Selnick, the Pentagon's former deputy chief of staff.
"All three of us served our country honorably in uniform — for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," the post continued.
"And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it. At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of 'leaks' to begin with.
"While this experience has been unconscionable, we remain supportive of the Trump-Vance Administration's mission to make the Pentagon great again and achieve peace through strength. We hope in the future to support those efforts in different capacities," the post read.
It was not immediately clear what leaks led to the departures. Caldwell and Selnick had worked with the defense secretary during his time leading the nonprofit Concerned Veterans for America.