Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted another senior adviser amid a staffing shakeup at the Pentagon.
Justin Fulcher, who started at the Defense Department as a member of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and was promoted to senior adviser in April, left the department on Saturday, reported CBS News.
His departure comes after Fulcher found himself at the center of two Pentagon controversies, according to the Washington Post.
Fulcher claimed that his departure is ‘perfectly amicable’ and he only planned to work in the government for six months.
‘Working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Department of Defense has been incredibly inspiring,’ Fulcher said.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said it was ‘not fair’ to describe Fulcher’s exit as a firing and called him a ‘great guy.’
The Defense Department released a statement on behalf of Fulcher stating, ‘As planned, I’ve completed six months of service in government to my country.
‘Working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Department of Defense has been incredibly inspiring.’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted another senior adviser amid a staffing shakeup
His departure comes just days after The Post published a report describing a tense meeting between Fulcher and the Pentagon’s DOGE team lead, Yinon Weiss, before Fulcher’s promotion.
Fulcher stormed out of the meeting and got Hegseth involved, according to the report.
Fulcher allegedly told Hegseth that he thought the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, an internal police and security organization, was looking for him.
That appeared to upset Hegseth and sources claimed he confronted Weiss about it, even raising his voice at times.
Weiss denied calling law enforcement and told Hegseth that he had reported Fulcher to a government official with the Defense Department transition office.
A few days later, Hegseth brought Fulcher onto his team and fired three other senior advisers.
In June, The Guardian reported that Fulcher allegedly told Hegseth’s personal attorney, Tim Parlatore, and Hegseth’s chief of staff at the time, Joe Kasper, that he had information that could identify people who leaked classified materials.
Fulcher allegedly claimed he knew of warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency that had identified the leakers, but would only share if he could help run the investigation.
However, sources told the outlet that Pentagon officials later determined that Fulcher exaggerated his claims and had no evidence of a wiretap.
Fulcher denied the report saying, ‘I never approached Parlatore, Kasper or anyone else offering “surveillance evidence” and did not ask to join an investigation on that or any other basis.’
This is a developing story…
