Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff Joe Kasper will be stepping down from his current role and reassigned to another position within the Pentagon, Politico first reported on Saturday.

News of Kasper’s departure comes during a tumultuous week for Hegseth as multiple high-level personnel have been dismissed amidst ongoing leak investigations. Senior advisor to the secretary of defense Dan Caldwell, the Pentagon’s deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, were all escorted out of the building by security this week and relieved of their duties of Friday.

A senior defense official who spoke to the outlet on a condition of anonymity said the tension between Kasper and the now fired employees had been percolating for some time. “Joe didn’t like those guys,” said one defense official. “They all have different styles. They just didn’t get along. It was a personality clash.”

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