Delilah Jones – Sportsmens – Set 1

Joe Kasper, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's controversial chief of staff, is expected to leave the Pentagon after coming under fire in recent days.

Initial reports said Kasper would step into another role at the Pentagon. But Politico confirmed on Thursday that he would leave the Department of Defense entirely and return to "government relations and consulting." As a special government employee, he will be limited to advising the Pentagon 130 days per year.

Kasper was reportedly behind the firings of three senior officials — Dan Caldwell, Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll — who had enjoyed regular access to Hegseth.

"Kasper did not like that those guys had the secretary's ear," one person told Politico. "He did not like that they had walk-in and hanging-out privileges in the office. He wanted them out. It was a knife fight."

Hegseth's chief of staff was also recently criticized for what The New York Times described as "pointlessly bawdy" digressions in meetings.

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"One meeting Mr. Kasper led this month, with a group that works with veterans that was offering its services to the Pentagon, devolved into a recounting of an evening Mr. Kasper and a representative of the group spent at a Washington strip club, said a person who took part in the session," the report said.

Hegseth, however, has defended Kasper, calling him a "great American."

"He has done a fantastic job for us at the Defense Department…You make changes over time, and we're grateful for everything Joe's done," the secretary told Fox News.