https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/06/trump-cant-find-people-to-work-for-bungling-cabinet-member.html The White House is reportedly struggling to find top advisers and aides for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, NBC News reported. According to four current and former administration officials and a Republican congressional aide, NBC News reported that the Trump administration has been searching to find a new chief of staff and several senior advisers for Hegseth after a tumultuous start to his role at the Defense Department. The report said that three people have already turned down jobs to work under Hegseth, who suspended two senior aides in April amid an investigation into a leak about sensitive Pentagon information. Hegseth also revealed in April that his chief of staff was removed and that his former press secretary, John Ullyot, was no longer working for him. Ullyot said after leaving that the Pentagon was in “total chaos.” After the recent purge of top staffers, Vice President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susan Wiles took an interest in helping Hegseth hire new aides and advisers, according to the report. From the NBC News report: Vance and Wiles have been searching for candidates who could support Hegseth ever since, according to three current U.S. officials and a former U.S. official. So far, though, the administration has not had much luck identifying people who are either willing to work for Hegseth or who fit the bill politically. And the White House has rejected some people Hegseth wants to hire, while Hegseth has rejected some of the White House’s candidates. NBC News reported that there has been some disagreement between the White House and Hegseth as to who should be his chief of staff. Former military aide, Ricky Buria, has emerged as one of Hegseth’s closest aides, but the report noted that the White House did not want him as Hegseth’s chief of staff since he was critical of Vance and Trump in the past. Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell dismissed NBC’s reporting in a statement to the outlet. “The anonymous sources cited in this article have no idea what they’re talking about,” he said. Hegseth’s tenure as Defense Secretary got off to a rocky start amid investigations into leaks about classified information, the departures of top Defense officials and “SignalGate.” The New York Times reported in April that Hegseth created another Signal messaging chat with his wife and brother where he shared similar details of a March military airstrike against Yemen’s Houthi militants that were sent in a separate group with top administration officials. The revelation sparked widespread questions about the use of Signal and prompted speculation as to who Hegseth was sharing potential classified information with. In March, Hegseth was included in a Signal group chat discussing the Yemen strike with top officials that also included a journalist from The Atlantic. The Associated Press reported last week that the Pentagon’s watchdog is looking into whether any of Hegseth’s aides were asked to delete Signal messages that may have shared sensitive military information with The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief in March. This comes as Hegseth is scheduled to testify before Congress this week for the first time since his confirmation hearing. He is likely to face questions under oath not only about his handling of sensitive information but also the wider turmoil at the Pentagon following the departures of several senior aides and an internal investigation over information leaks.
Cut the defense budget in half and you won't need any advisors. First root out corruption, you can't have quails working with snakes.