Crisis Inside the Pentagon: We Can’t Afford This Kind of Turmoil

COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating

My own sources – people with direct knowledge of the situation – tell me this story is far from over.

The disarray now rippling through the Department of Defense is not just alarming – it’s a dangerous crisis. Firings. Backstabbing. Sniping. Resignations. This isn’t the kind of turbulence a superpower can tolerate. We live in a world where adversaries capitalize on distraction. Our national security apparatus can’t afford to be caught flat-footed while dealing with a high level breakdown behind the lines.

What’s worse? The longer this goes on, the more corrosive it becomes. Morale suffers. Command structures strain. Public trust erodes. This isn’t just a news cycle story – it’s a systemic vulnerability. Unless it’s addressed quickly and transparently, it will metastasize.

Let’s be honest: we don’t know what really happened. We’ve heard whisperings of leaks, of internal strife, of sensitive information floating around where it shouldn’t. But no formal investigation has been completed. We need answers. Not spin. Not obfuscation. Not bureaucratic dithering.

My own sources – people with direct knowledge of the situation – tell me this story is far from over. “All is not what it seems,” one said. More revelations are coming.

A recent article by John Ullyot is deeply concerning. As part of it, he writes that on Friday, The Pentagon fired three of its most loyal senior staffers: senior adviser Dan Caldwell; deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick; and chief of staff to the deputy secretary of Defense, Colin Carroll. Pentagon officials claimed that the three were fired for leaking sensitive information. The firings were cast as being the result of an investigation ordered in March.

Ulyot delved into the firings.

“While the department said that it would conduct polygraph tests as part of the probe, not one of the three has been given a lie detector test,” he noted. “In fact, at least one of them has told former colleagues that investigators advised him he was about to be cleared officially of any wrongdoing.”

The American people deserve transparency. The rank-and-file deserve leadership. And our adversaries deserve to know that chaos at the top doesn’t mean vulnerability at the core.

For a nation that leads on the world stage, this level of internal chaos is a liability we simply can’t carry.

It’s time to get to the bottom of this – fast. Before the damage comes with a price we can’t afford to pay.

Susan Katz Keating is the publisher and editor in chief at Soldier of Fortune.