Pentagon suspends third top official, Colin Carroll, amid leaks probe

Colin Carroll , a Marine Corps officer, has become the third official to be placed on administrative leave from the Pentagon, amid an ongoing investigation into information leaks at the United States Department of Defense.

Carroll is the chief of staff to US deputy secretary of defense Steve A Feinberg . The two officials who have already been sent on leave are Dan Caldwell , a senior adviser to defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and Darin Selnick , Hegseth's deputy chief of staff.

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"We can confirm Mr. Carroll has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation. We have nothing additional to provide at this time," Fox News Digital quoted a senior official as saying.

Who is Colin Carroll?

Carroll is a US Marine Corps intelligence officer, and he previously worked at Anduril Industries, a defense contractor which specializes in autonomous systems, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also worked for Applied Intuition, a California-based software company.

A graduate from the United States Naval Academy, he was sent to Afghanistan four times as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. His educational credentials include an aerospace engineering degree from the naval academy, and a master’s degree from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Pentagon leaks case

Last month, the Department of Defense, headquartered at the Pentagon building in Washington DC, began an investigation into “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.”

Joe Kasper, Hegseth's chief of staff, wrote in a March 21 memo, "This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the secretary of defense. The report will include a complete record of unauthorized disclosures within the Department of Defense and recommendations to improve such efforts."