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

A feud between the secretary's advisers and his chief of staff created backbiting and distrust that has erupted into the open.

Pete Hegseth hosted Fox News shows for years before becoming Donald Trump’s defence secretary. On Tuesday morning, he took to the conservative US cable network to mount a defence against a torrent of criticism about his actions at the helm of the Pentagon and the turmoil that has embroiled the world’s most powerful military agency.

Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon is hemorrhaging senior officials faster than the Justice Department’s resignation tsunami last month, when seven federal prosecutors quit over the acting Deputy Attorney General’s quid pro quo scheme to dismiss corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams in exchange for his cooperation with the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants.