Dan Caldwell, a recently ousted Pentagon adviser, says he was fired not for leaks—as the Defense Department claims—but for opposing a strike on Iran and challenging establishment foreign policy views, reported Politico.

“I was out there advancing things that a lot of people in the foreign policy establishment didn’t want,” Caldwell told Tucker Carlson.

“It doesn’t justify what’s happening to me, but let’s just be honest—that is the nature of the games played in D.C.”

Caldwell denied leaking any information and said neither he nor fellow fired officials Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick were told why they were dismissed.

Caldwell went into the other two advisor's focus and said they also were looking to gore certain Pentagon cash cows.

“We were threatening a lot of established interests,” he said. 

“And I think they weaponized the investigation against us.”

It is likely Caldwell is correct in his assessment. War with Iran is one of those 'establishment interests'.

SecDef Hegseth seems to be concurring with 'investigators' who found leaks. Was he fooled?