A former top advisor to War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was ousted amid a high-profile leak investigation, has been hired to work under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, according to a source familiar with the move.

Dan Caldwell's return to a sensitive intelligence role comes less than a year after he was publicly accused of leaking classified information — allegations that have never been publicly substantiated — and as the Trump administration navigates an escalating war with Iran. 

The hiring also places a prominent advocate of a more restrained U.S. foreign policy inside the intelligence apparatus at a moment of growing internal tension. 

Earlier Tuesday, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned, citing opposition to the Iran war and arguing Tehran, Iran, did not pose an imminent threat to the United States, a rare public break from within the administration.

PENTAGON PROBE INTO SECRET SIGNAL CHATS ON HOUTHI STRIKES SET TO DROP THURSDAY AS HEGSETH FACES SCRUTINY

A source familiar with the move described Caldwell’s new position as an "administrative role" focused on internal management and coordination rather than directly shaping intelligence assessments or national security policy. However, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) plays a central role in coordinating intelligence across 18 agencies and shaping the president’s daily intelligence briefing.

The source said Caldwell has completed a polygraph test and passed a series of background and security checks and is in the onboarding process.

Gabbard's office could not immediately be reached for comment. 

A recent Quinnipiac poll found the war is dividing Americans just as it is those within the administration: 53% of those surveyed opposed the military intervention, while 40% supported it. 

Caldwell's hiring signals the apparent end of a leak investigation that began in April 2025, when Caldwell and two other senior Pentagon officials, Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, were abruptly fired and escorted out of the Pentagon. All three aides have denied any involvement in leaks, and no public evidence has been produced to support the allegations. 

Hegseth said at the time the three aides would be investigated for leaking and suggested there was evidence of wrongdoing, but none of the men were ever charged, and Caldwell retains his security clearance.

The Pentagon has not disclosed whether the investigation remains active or has concluded. 

IG: HEGSETH BROKE PENTAGON RULES USING SIGNAL TO SHARE STRIKE DETAILS, THOUGH NO CLASSIFIED INFO WAS RELEASED

Fox News Digital previously reported that the three aides had clashed with chief of staff Joe Kasper, who was also later removed from his role. 

Hegseth continued to accuse the aides of leaking even after their departure, saying at the time, "Those folks who are leaking, who have been pushed out of the building, are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president's agenda and what we're doing. And that's unfortunate."

Caldwell, a Marine Corps veteran and prominent voice in the restraint-minded foreign policy sphere, advised Hegseth primarily on European issues and has been outspoken against prolonged U.S. military involvement overseas. His views align with a faction inside the administration that has long warned against entering another major Middle East conflict.

That debate has taken on new urgency as the U.S. enters its third week of war with Iran, and as Gabbard — who built much of her political identity opposing regime-change wars — has remained largely quiet publicly about the conflict despite overseeing the nation’s intelligence apparatus.

After his firing, Caldwell suggested the trio’s removal may have been tied to internal power struggles. 

"We threatened a lot of established interests inside the building and outside the building," he said.

The Pentagon declined to comment on Caldwell’s hiring and the status of the investigation. The Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations did not respond to a request for comment. 

A 22-year-old Christian influencer says more young Americans are rediscovering faith as frustration with "fake stuff" and social media culture drives a search for deeper meaning.

"We’re tired of fake stuff. We’re tired of fluff," Bryce Crawford said Monday on "Fox & Friends."

"We're fed fluff through our phones, through desires, through whatever we think is going to satisfy. Every human being is on a quest for love, and we try to fill that void with different things, and I think people are naturally understanding, 'Wait, this thing isn't working anymore. This isn't going how I thought it was going to go,' so ultimately, people don't just want a truth, they want the truth and that would be Jesus."

Crawford is helping trailblaze a faith revival among young adults by spreading the gospel in the streets and to millions of followers on his social media accounts.

'THE CHOSEN’ FANS REVEAL WHY THE JESUS SERIES IS REWRITING HOLLYWOOD RULES

After growing up in a Christian household, he fully committed to Christ and found peace in Jesus' word after battling anxiety and depression as a teen.

"When I was 17, I planned on making an irrevocable decision with my life because I thought that was the only way to get the pain to go away," he said.

"And the night I was going to make an irrevocable decision, Jesus supernaturally encountered me, and I prayed a prayer. I said, 'Jesus, if you're real, take away my anxiety and depression,' and I haven't had it since that day."

CATHOLICVOTE LAUNCHES 'ZEALE' APP TARGETING GEN Z AMERICANS WITH FAITH AND NEWS CONTENT

That was over five years ago, he shared, and that moment placed his "foot in the door" to give his life to Christ.

Crawford is also leading the charge with his "I Love Jesus" tour – traveling from state to state, city to city, to help spread the gospel and give people a space to unify behind a Christian message.

He said helping others welcome the gospel as he did starts with being "intentional" in asking questions.

"[People are] not a statistic. I'm not going out there to treat them like a stat to go home and brag about. They're a human being that's made in the image of God," he said.

"So we want to be intentional and ask questions. But we ask the tough questions, too: Do you have a faith? What do you think happens when we die? Do you believe in Jesus? [What are] your thoughts on Him? Everyone has a perspective of Jesus. It's just, do we believe that he is God? And if he is God, then he's worthy of our lives and worship."

Crawford said the Christian resurgence among fellow Gen Zers stems from people "waking up to the truth" and realizing that Christ is the "only thing that can satisfy" them.

"We've lived for so many different things, different people, relationships, substances, different vices, and it doesn't fulfill us," he said.

"So people understand that we need something eternal and perfect that can sustain that, and Jesus is alive and active, and He is doing that in people's hearts who are hungry and ready to receive Him."

Tori Spelling said this week that throughout her career, tabloids and fans have made "horrific" claims that she’s had plastic surgery she didn’t get done.

"Since I was 17, since before there was internet, wow, there was the Enquirer, The Globe, it was like the tabloid paper magazines," the 52-year-old told Dr. Terry Dubrow while they were discussing plastic surgery on her "MisSpelling" podcast on Monday.  

"And the Globe came out with something when I was 17," she said. "I had started ‘90210’ and gotten famous. And they were like, ‘She’s had all this plastic surgery.’ So, they did something like that to a 17-year-old."

Spelling said the Globe claimed she had gotten a new chin and cheek implants, but all she had actually gotten was a nose job.

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She remembered her dad, producer Aaron Spelling, told her not to worry about the story, saying the tabloids would move on to another celebrity next week, but she said it’s stung her whole life.

"At 17, it crushed my whole soul," she said. "I never unsaw that. I never unheard it. I was like a 17-year-old girl that was like 'OK, am I pretty? I’m trying to find myself in this world, but I’m on TV.' I was in high school for real."

In the age of social media, Spelling admitted it still hurts her feelings when people speculate about her.

'MORMON WIVES' STAR SAYS PLASTIC SURGERY NIGHTMARE RUINED HER LIFE AND REALITY TV CAREER

"It’s horrific. I’m 52, I’ll be 53 in May, and I purposefully go the other way because everyone says — every photo I put up, people say, ‘Stop with the filler!’ I’m like, 'I’m not!'" she said. "I don’t know — I guess at this point, I should be like f--- it and have my whole face done because they already say I’ve had it done. So, it’s like I can’t win, but I don’t know why that keeps me from doing stuff."

Spelling said she usually doesn’t respond when people make untrue comments, but can’t always help herself.

"I find myself sometimes, though, being like, ‘No! it’s not true! Have I had filler in the past? Yes — I don’t have filler right now. I have Botox,' and like telling them what I have. Like why am I — it’s like I’m scared to like — like, ‘No, I haven’t had all that done.’"

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Spelling has previously detailed her experience getting breast implants at a strip mall after a recommendation from a friend who was a stripper.

"I was 19, so I was like, ‘This isn’t Beverly Hills, what’s happening?’ I was confused. I was best friends with Alicia Silverstone and Carmen Electra, and they were taking care of me [after the surgery]. I can’t even make this stuff up."

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She added, "He was a fine doctor, it was just like an outpatient center in a strip mall."

She described her natural breasts as an A plus to a B-cup, adding that she had "just wanted to make them fuller."

Spelling said she had just gotten them done again, joking, "Third time will be the charm."

"I think my body doesn’t like to take foreign things," she explained. "I think they’re OK now. My whole intention of getting them redone was to go smaller ‘cause, like looking back to the ‘90s, I was like, 'I liked my boobs. I wish I had just kept them. They’re really great.'"

Comedian Bill Maher pressed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday over his opposition to U.S. involvement in Iran, challenging the Democrat on what he would do if he were commander-in-chief and had been given knowledge that Iran would soon have nuclear weapons.

"Our chief negotiator said they were talking to Iran up until the war started. He said their opening salvo at the negotiations, ‘We’re a couple of weeks away from having 11 bombs.’" Maher said during the latest installment of "Real Time." 

"If you were the president, and you got that information, you would still do nothing?" 

Shapiro quickly rejected the notion.

TRUMP SUDDENLY SEEMS ANXIOUS TO END THE WAR AS AMERICAN CASUALTIES MOUNT AND IRAN FINDS WAYS TO HIT BACK

"No. What I would do, and what the President of the United States failed to do, was be clear with the American people about what the hell we were doing here," he said.

"Was the plan to go after the nuclear weapons? The weapons, by the way, he said were destroyed… seven months ago. Was the plan to go and do regime change? In which case, who the hell is going to take over? I don't think the son [Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei] is any better than the father. Was the plan to go in there later, but you got forced because Netanyahu forced your hand?" 

"I think if you don't have clarity about why you're going in, you have no way of knowing how the hell to get out," he added, his remarks met with applause.

PENTAGON POLICY CHIEF GRILLED AS DEM CLAIMS TRUMP BROKE PROMISE ABOUT GOING TO WAR WITH IRAN

Maher also pushed back on the Pennsylvania Democrat's suggestion that the rationale for the war remains unclear.

"We've lost 13 American soldiers in a war that the American people and, by the way, most of the global community, has no idea why the hell we went there in the first place," Shapiro said.

"I think people have an idea," Maher countered.

FETTERMAN CONDEMNS DEMOCRATS FOR REFUSING TO PUT 'COUNTRY OVER PARTY' ON IRAN STRIKES

"What was the reason we went in?" Shapiro asked.

"Everything you said – the nukes, regime change, and just to reshuffle the deck in the Middle East. Nothing ever really was going to get better until that regime went away," Maher replied, prompting chuckles from the audience.

Maher then added, "But we'll see what happens."

Shapiro noted that he was morally opposed to the Iranian regime's actions that placed Americans in harm's way, stating that he never viewed the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a "good person" and that he is "not shedding a tear" for regime members who were killed.  

"[The ayatollah] chanted, for five decades, ‘Death to America.’" These are people who blew up and killed Americans. These are not good people…" he said. 

"What I am saying, though, is, if you are the commander-in-chief, you have a responsibility to the people you send into harm's way, a responsibility to the American people to explain why it is you're doing what you're doing and how the hell you get out of it once the mission is accomplished…

"The president has yet to look the American people in the eye and explain that, and that is a failure of leadership," he added.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Shapiro's statements but did not immediately hear back. 

Senate Republicans are gearing up for a floor battle over Trump-backed voter ID legislation, but another GOP senator plans to oppose it.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., won’t support the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a decision that could throw a wrench into the GOP’s plan to force Senate Democrats into tough vote after tough vote next week.

"I'm a no," Tillis said. "I'm going to do everything I can to prevent it from even moving forward."

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He did offer an alternative, arguing that if Republicans were "serious" about voter ID, they’d consider legislation that incentivized states to use the practice in exchange for federal funding. If not, the money would go toward ensuring "election integrity" oversight.

"Who could be against that? You know, and then rock on, California, if you want to enable ballot harvesting," Tillis said. "Make sure you do it on your nickels, because we're going to spend the money to oversee the elections to make sure you did it legally."

His resistance to the bill comes after President Donald Trump demanded that Republicans ram the bill through Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats’ blockade with a talking filibuster.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Republicans landed on a plan to put the bill on the floor that doesn’t take the route of a talking filibuster, given that there isn’t enough unity among Republicans to block Democrats’ amendments that could drastically change the bill.

However, that process is in the spirit of the talking filibuster and will allow Republicans to load up amendments on the floor for a marathon debate session. Still, it won’t lower the threshold to pass the bill with just a simple majority, something the talking filibuster would have done.

Republicans know it’s destined to fail and are trying to shift blame to Schumer and Democrats with their floor strategy.

THUNE GUARANTEES VOTER ID BILL TO HIT THE SENATE DESPITE SCHUMER, DEM OPPOSITION: 'WE WILL HAVE A VOTE'

But Tillis, who was a co-sponsor of the bill’s predecessor called the SAVE Act, disagreed with the changes Trump proposed to the legislation, which included banning mail-in ballots with limited exceptions, halting men in women’s sports and stopping transgender surgeries for minors.

"You know, taking the language from the White House without understanding the state-by-state implications, politically and procedurally, just doesn't sound like we're letting the people at the tip of the spear — that's these people running for re-election — define what we should be voting on next week," Tillis said.

Tillis joins Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, in opposing the bill. Their defection, coupled with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., announcing on CBS’ "The Takeout with Major Garrett" that he wouldn’t support the legislation in its "current state" over Trump’s criticism of mail-in balloting, gives the GOP a razor-thin margin of error in trying to even open debate on the bill.

William Shatner was slated to undergo surgery Wednesday after injuring a shoulder late last year. 

During an appearance at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films’ 53rd annual Saturn Awards in Burbank, California, Sunday, Shatner, 94, revealed he recently fell off his horse during a ride. 

"I ride the horses that can compete in equine skills, which is fast down and ends on a sliding stop," he said. "And the horse that I owned, I came off.

"And she had a habit of going too far, like six inches to the side," he added. "And I’m riding it. And I’m ready. And she goes [too fast and sent him flying]. I’m not a young stuntman anymore. I started to roll but hit the dirt with my shoulder. So, I wrecked my shoulder."

WILLIAM SHATNER SHARES HIS BIGGEST REGRET FROM HOLLYWOOD CAREER: ‘I FAILED HORRIBLY’

Shatner told the crowd he was scheduled to undergo a "new type of shoulder operation called a reverse something or other" March 11.

"You put the ball in the socket and the socket in the thing, and you come out 10 hours later, and you’re pain-free," he said in an attempt to describe the surgery. "So, that’s what I am meandering towards."

A representative for Shatner did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Last year, Shatner got candid about a "difficult" health condition he's battled since the '90s. 

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In a promotional video for the nonprofit Tinnitus Quest, the "Star Trek" star, 94, opened up about the challenges he's faced while living with tinnitus for decades. 

"My own journey with tinnitus started when I was filming a ‘Star Trek’ episode called 'Arena,' and I was too close to the special effects' explosion. And the result was that I was left with permanent tinnitus," Shatner said in the video.

"And, over the years, I’ve had many ups and downs with my tinnitus, and I know from firsthand experience just how difficult it can get."

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Tinnitus is a condition in which a person can experience ringing or other noises in one or both ears, according to the Mayo Clinic. Tinnitus is a common problem and can affect about 15% to 20% of people, and is especially common in older adults.

Shatner, who was diagnosed with tinnitus in the 1990s, shared that while "there are no effective treatments" for the condition, he remains focused on trying to raise money for a cure. 

In 2024, the legendary actor shared the secret to remaining youthful in his 90s. 

"Just staying engaged in life, to stay curious. But the luck has a lot to do with it in your health," he told People at the time.

"Your life's energy, the soul energy of your body is a product of health," he added. "If you're sick, you can't be energetic. You're dying. So my luck has been, I've been healthy all my life."

A federal appeals court on Wednesday granted the Trump administration's request to pause a lower court order that blocked it from deporting illegal immigrants to so-called "third countries" — granting a near-term reprieve to the administration just hours before the lower court's order was slated to take effect.

Trump administration lawyers had appealed the ruling to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals last week, arguing that the order from U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy created an "unworkable scheme" that threatened to derail sensitive negotiations with outside countries, and risked derailing up to "thousands" of planned deportations. 

They also argued Murphy's ruling cut against two previous Supreme Court emergency stays last year, after the high court intervened and allowed the administration to continue its deportation policy, for now. 

US JUDGE ACCUSES TRUMP ADMIN OF ‘MANUFACTURING CHAOS’ IN SOUTH SUDAN DEPORTATIONS, ESCALATING FEUD

The case is all but certain to be punted to the high court for a full review on its merits, as senior Trump administration officials acknowledged earlier this year.

Murphy, a Biden appointee, sided with migrants last month in his 81-page ruling, determining that the Department of Homeland Security's third-country removal process — or the process by which migrants are removed from the U.S. to a country other than their country of origin — is unlawful and violates due process protections under the U.S. Constitution.

He ruled that the Trump administration must first try to deport the migrants to their home country, or to a country of removal previously designated by an immigration judge. Only after that process, he said, could migrants be removed to a third country, so long as "meaningful notice" is provided, as well as the opportunity for the migrants to raise any fear of persecution in the third country identified for their removal under a so-called "reasonable fear" interview.

The third-country removal policy "fails to satisfy due process for a raft of reasons, not least of which is that nobody really knows anything about these purported ‘assurances,’" Murphy wrote in his ruling, though he stayed it from taking force for 15 days in order to give the administration time to appeal.

Barring intervention from the U.S. appeals court, the order was slated to take force on Thursday. 

FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING

DHS officials have previously claimed an "undisputed authority" to deport criminal illegal migrants to third countries that have agreed to accept them. 

"If these activist judges had their way, aliens who are so uniquely barbaric that their own countries won’t take them back, including convicted murderers, child rapists and drug traffickers, would walk free on American streets," former Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in June, after the Supreme Court temporarily permitted the Trump administration to continue its deportation policy amid legal challenges. 

Murphy had presided for months over a class-action lawsuit filed by migrants challenging deportations to third countries, including South Sudan, El Salvador, and both Costa Rica and Guatemala, which the Trump administration has reportedly eyed in its ongoing wave of deportations.

He has sparred with the Trump administration while overseeing the case, including in May, when he accused the administration of failing to comply with a court order requiring it to keep in U.S. custody six migrants who were deported to South Sudan without due process or notice.

'WOEFULLY INSUFFICIENT': US JUDGE REAMS TRUMP ADMIN FOR DAYS-LATE DEPORTATION INFO

Murphy previously ordered that the migrants remain in U.S. custody at a military base in Djibouti until each of them could be given a "reasonable fear interview," or a chance to explain to U.S. officials any fear of persecution or torture, should they be released into South Sudanese custody.  

Murphy previously acknowledged the criminal histories in question after Trump officials blasted the individuals removed as the "worst of the worst."

"The court recognizes that the class members at issue here have criminal histories," Murphy wrote in an order last year.

"But that does not change due process," he wrote. "The court treats its obligation to these principles with the seriousness that anyone committed to the rule of law should understand."