Former chief Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot, who was once a strong backer of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is now warning that the “total chaos” of the last month at the Defense Department, including Signalgate and the recent firings over supposed leaks, could lead to Hegseth’s ouster.
In an op-ed in Politico, Ullyot detailed his shift from once arguing that Hegseth was the “best man to shake things up” at the DOD to now observing that the Pentagon is in “disarray” under his leadership and may not have much time left as defense secretary.
He particularly shed light on the recent firings of three Pentagon officials, two of whom were leading advisers to Hegseth. All three were put on leave as part of an investigation into leaks in the department, with the Pentagon using polygraph tests in its inquiry.
Yet Ullyot revealed that none of the fired officials were given a polygraph test in the investigation, and one of them was told by investigators that he would soon be cleared of all wrongdoing. He said this is indicative of a larger “habit” of Hegseth’s team of “spreading flat-out, easily debunked falsehoods anonymously about their colleagues on their way out the door.”
Ullyot was also critical of Hegseth’s response to the Signal leak revealed in late March, when the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic was mistakenly added to a group chat discussing sensitive details of imminent U.S. strikes on the Yemeni Houthis. The defense secretary’s initial response to reporters was to deny that any “war plans” were shared, which Ullyot said only made things worse as editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg then released the full text chain shortly after.
These incidents at the Pentagon are not the end of what Ullyot called the “Month from Hell” for the defense agency, as he predicted more firings as well as “even bigger bombshell stories” coming out this week.
Now faced with the loss of two of his closest advisers and another Signal chat leak revealed by the New York Times on Sunday night, Ullyot concluded by suggesting that Hegseth’s time in the high-level Cabinet post may be coming to a close, given President Donald Trump’s first term, which saw him go through three different defense secretaries.
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“President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account. Given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer,” he said.
Ullyot was no longer serving in his role as chief Pentagon spokesman in late March following uproar over the deletion of a story about Jackie Robinson as part of the DOD’s initiative to remove DEI content. His resignation from the department came just last week on April 17.
