AI
Friday, November 28, 2025 2:45:45 PM
LOLOL If you thought maybe Patroclus was a mystery to me, you were right. So, firstly AI suggested Buria, with Kaspar ..
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/24/hegseth-chief-of-staff-pentagon-leaving-00308721 ..
as an option, then finally i got to a relatively responsible special advisor, The Guardian. It's months old, but best i can
determine Buria is still acting, because it's all too hard for the Trump people to handle properly.
An acting head feels to fit show pony Hegseth.
Trump advisers abandon effort to find new chief of staff to serve Pete Hegseth
Exclusive: White House has left Ricky Buria to continue in role in an acting capacity as efforts to block him fizzled
Hugo Lowell in Washington
Thu 24 Jul 2025 02.02 AEST
Donald Trump listens as the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House on 8 July. Photograph: Aaron Schwartz/EPA
Donald Trump’s advisers have abandoned an effort to find a new chief of staff to the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, allowing senior adviser Ricky Buria to continue performing the duties in an acting role despite once viewing him as a liability, according to people familiar with the matter.
Buria is not expected to formally receive the White House’s approval to become the permanent chief of staff to Hegseth, a position that became vacant after the first chief of staff, Joe Kasper, left in the wake of major upheaval in the secretary’s front office earlier this year.
But the attempt by the Trump advisers to block Buria from getting the job has fizzled in recent months as the news cycle moved away from the controversies that dogged Hegseth at the start of Trump’s term and officials lost interest in managing personnel at the Pentagon, the people said.
US only has 25% of all Patriot missile interceptors needed for Pentagon’s military plans
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/08/us-pentagon-military-plans-patriot-missile-interceptor
As a result, Buria has become a regular presence in the West Wing for briefings in the situation room and with senior White House and administration officials, and secured his standing at the Pentagon, where he is widely referred to as “Chief Ricky”.
The developments are sure to also be a relief for Hegseth, who for months has been staring down the prospect of having his closest aide shunted aside because of concerns at the White House about a growing portrait of dysfunction in his front office.
White House officials may yet revisit installing a replacement for the chief of staff position, which plays a key role in managing Hegseth’s front office and setting the direction of the $1tn defense department that oversees more than 2 million troops around the world.
And it is uncertain if the extent to which senior White House and administration officials are now interacting with Buria is more because he is the only Hegseth aide empowered by the secretary to serve as his top staffer, rather than a vote of confidence by Trump’s advisers.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon referred reporting for this story to the White House. A spokesperson for the White House in a statement offered praise for Hegseth for “restoring readiness and lethality to our military and putting our warfighters first after four years of ineptitude and abject failure by the Biden administration”.
At least part of the reason for Buria’s ascendancy at the defense department in recent months is because of a power vacuum in Hegseth’s front office and his role in bringing about the departures of some of his biggest detractors and rivals, according to current and former Pentagon officials.
A former MV-22 Osprey pilot who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Buria started as the junior military assistant to Joe Biden’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, before Hegseth fired the senior military aide Lt Gen Jennifer Short and Buria swiftly stepped into the job.
Buria then sought to become a political appointee and expanded his influence around the time that Hegseth’s office became rocked by a contentious leak investigation ..
[Insert: Out some from link supplied ..
Days before Pete Hegseth fired three top aides last month over a Pentagon leak investigation into the disclosure of classified materials, according to four people familiar with the episode, a recently hired senior adviser said he could help with the inquiry.
The adviser, Justin Fulcher, suggested to Hegseth’s then chief of staff, Joe Kasper, and Hegseth’s personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, that he knew of warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) that had identified the leakers.
Fulcher offered to share the supposed evidence as long as he could help run the investigation, three of the people said. But when he eventually sat down with officials, it became clear he had no evidence of a wiretap, and the Pentagon had been duped.
The problem was that development was not communicated to the White House – so several Trump advisers who were told of the NSA wiretap claim believed that was part of the “smoking gun” evidence against the three aides fired by Hegseth, until they developed their own doubts.
two men in navy suits in a room
White House stunned as Hegseth inquiry brings up illegal wiretap claims
Read more >
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/27/hegseth-pentagon-leak-investigation-wiretap
The Guardian revealed last month that there were unsubstantiated NSA warrantless wiretap claims underpinning the leak investigation, but its origin story and the involvement of Fulcher in the controversy has not been previously reported.
Fulcher has said this account is not correct. In a statement, he said he never suggested there were NSA wiretaps or that he had access to wiretap records. “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,” he said.
The extraordinary episode adds to the growing portrait of dysfunction inside Hegseth’s front office,]
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/09/hegseth-wiretap-inquiry-justin-fulcher .. that resulted in the ouster of three top aides and the early exit of Kasper.
Their exits amounted to four of the biggest obstacles to Buria assuming the job of chief of staff vanishing overnight, the officials said, and Buria presenting them to Hegseth as the end of his troubles with leaks to the media endeared him to the secretary.
Hegseth has since defended Buria at every turn, even as the White House told the defense secretary he could keep Buria but that he would never become chief of staff, the Guardian previously reported.
The White House was spooked by Buria’s elevation for several reasons, including that he had been identified as having sent some of the messages in the Signal group chat, which contained information that was almost certainly classified, because he had gained access to Hegseth’s phone.
Hegseth accepted the compromise offered by the White House at the time but, in keeping Buria around, managed to in effect hand him the job anyway, two Trump advisers suggested.
While Buria did not travel to the Nato summit last month, the Trump advisers said he did not get a seat on Air Force One with Hegseth or on a support plane because the trip was at capacity and senior aides to other secretaries were turned away.
Still, the White House has maintained other reservations about Buria and his role in recurring office drama. Buria has also come under scrutiny in the Pentagon inspector general investigation into the Signalgate episode and whether he played a role in pushing out aides in the leak investigation.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/23/pete-hegseth-chief-of-staff
LOL. Guessing you knew all of that before too. Thanks, always feels good to catch up on more.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/24/hegseth-chief-of-staff-pentagon-leaving-00308721 ..
as an option, then finally i got to a relatively responsible special advisor, The Guardian. It's months old, but best i can
determine Buria is still acting, because it's all too hard for the Trump people to handle properly.
An acting head feels to fit show pony Hegseth.
Trump advisers abandon effort to find new chief of staff to serve Pete Hegseth
Exclusive: White House has left Ricky Buria to continue in role in an acting capacity as efforts to block him fizzled
Hugo Lowell in Washington
Thu 24 Jul 2025 02.02 AEST
Donald Trump listens as the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House on 8 July. Photograph: Aaron Schwartz/EPA
Donald Trump’s advisers have abandoned an effort to find a new chief of staff to the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, allowing senior adviser Ricky Buria to continue performing the duties in an acting role despite once viewing him as a liability, according to people familiar with the matter.
Buria is not expected to formally receive the White House’s approval to become the permanent chief of staff to Hegseth, a position that became vacant after the first chief of staff, Joe Kasper, left in the wake of major upheaval in the secretary’s front office earlier this year.
But the attempt by the Trump advisers to block Buria from getting the job has fizzled in recent months as the news cycle moved away from the controversies that dogged Hegseth at the start of Trump’s term and officials lost interest in managing personnel at the Pentagon, the people said.
US only has 25% of all Patriot missile interceptors needed for Pentagon’s military plans
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/08/us-pentagon-military-plans-patriot-missile-interceptor
As a result, Buria has become a regular presence in the West Wing for briefings in the situation room and with senior White House and administration officials, and secured his standing at the Pentagon, where he is widely referred to as “Chief Ricky”.
The developments are sure to also be a relief for Hegseth, who for months has been staring down the prospect of having his closest aide shunted aside because of concerns at the White House about a growing portrait of dysfunction in his front office.
White House officials may yet revisit installing a replacement for the chief of staff position, which plays a key role in managing Hegseth’s front office and setting the direction of the $1tn defense department that oversees more than 2 million troops around the world.
And it is uncertain if the extent to which senior White House and administration officials are now interacting with Buria is more because he is the only Hegseth aide empowered by the secretary to serve as his top staffer, rather than a vote of confidence by Trump’s advisers.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon referred reporting for this story to the White House. A spokesperson for the White House in a statement offered praise for Hegseth for “restoring readiness and lethality to our military and putting our warfighters first after four years of ineptitude and abject failure by the Biden administration”.
At least part of the reason for Buria’s ascendancy at the defense department in recent months is because of a power vacuum in Hegseth’s front office and his role in bringing about the departures of some of his biggest detractors and rivals, according to current and former Pentagon officials.
A former MV-22 Osprey pilot who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Buria started as the junior military assistant to Joe Biden’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, before Hegseth fired the senior military aide Lt Gen Jennifer Short and Buria swiftly stepped into the job.
Buria then sought to become a political appointee and expanded his influence around the time that Hegseth’s office became rocked by a contentious leak investigation ..
[Insert: Out some from link supplied ..
Days before Pete Hegseth fired three top aides last month over a Pentagon leak investigation into the disclosure of classified materials, according to four people familiar with the episode, a recently hired senior adviser said he could help with the inquiry.
The adviser, Justin Fulcher, suggested to Hegseth’s then chief of staff, Joe Kasper, and Hegseth’s personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, that he knew of warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) that had identified the leakers.
Fulcher offered to share the supposed evidence as long as he could help run the investigation, three of the people said. But when he eventually sat down with officials, it became clear he had no evidence of a wiretap, and the Pentagon had been duped.
The problem was that development was not communicated to the White House – so several Trump advisers who were told of the NSA wiretap claim believed that was part of the “smoking gun” evidence against the three aides fired by Hegseth, until they developed their own doubts.
two men in navy suits in a room
White House stunned as Hegseth inquiry brings up illegal wiretap claims
Read more >
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/27/hegseth-pentagon-leak-investigation-wiretap
The Guardian revealed last month that there were unsubstantiated NSA warrantless wiretap claims underpinning the leak investigation, but its origin story and the involvement of Fulcher in the controversy has not been previously reported.
Fulcher has said this account is not correct. In a statement, he said he never suggested there were NSA wiretaps or that he had access to wiretap records. “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,” he said.
The extraordinary episode adds to the growing portrait of dysfunction inside Hegseth’s front office,]
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/09/hegseth-wiretap-inquiry-justin-fulcher .. that resulted in the ouster of three top aides and the early exit of Kasper.
Their exits amounted to four of the biggest obstacles to Buria assuming the job of chief of staff vanishing overnight, the officials said, and Buria presenting them to Hegseth as the end of his troubles with leaks to the media endeared him to the secretary.
Hegseth has since defended Buria at every turn, even as the White House told the defense secretary he could keep Buria but that he would never become chief of staff, the Guardian previously reported.
The White House was spooked by Buria’s elevation for several reasons, including that he had been identified as having sent some of the messages in the Signal group chat, which contained information that was almost certainly classified, because he had gained access to Hegseth’s phone.
Hegseth accepted the compromise offered by the White House at the time but, in keeping Buria around, managed to in effect hand him the job anyway, two Trump advisers suggested.
While Buria did not travel to the Nato summit last month, the Trump advisers said he did not get a seat on Air Force One with Hegseth or on a support plane because the trip was at capacity and senior aides to other secretaries were turned away.
Still, the White House has maintained other reservations about Buria and his role in recurring office drama. Buria has also come under scrutiny in the Pentagon inspector general investigation into the Signalgate episode and whether he played a role in pushing out aides in the leak investigation.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/23/pete-hegseth-chief-of-staff
LOL. Guessing you knew all of that before too. Thanks, always feels good to catch up on more.
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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