Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s top aides were reportedly fighting a vicious “turf war” in the lead-up to three of them being fired last week accused of leaking information to the press. Hegseth had become increasingly isolated and paranoid over the past month as news of the Pentagon’s controversial plans leaked,

John Ullyot, a former Pentagon spokesperson under Hegseth and a White House official during Trump’s first term, wrote that “the last month has been a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon — and it’s becoming a real problem for the administration”, in a stinging op-ed in Politico this week.

The defense secretary’s inner circle is in disarray, and distrust is growing among civil servants and senior military officials.