From that NYT article linked above in this thread:
“… The battles that have roiled Mr. Hegseth’s inner office, though, have focused more on often petty bureaucratic disputes than policy issues, said current and former defense officials. Staff members have complained that meetings overseen by Mr. Hegseth’s handpicked chief of staff, Joe Kasper, meander or take pointlessly bawdy turns. [UPDATE - Kaspar is being reassigned]
One meeting Mr. Kasper led this month, with a group that works with veterans that was offering its services to the Pentagon, devolved into a recounting of an evening Mr. Kasper and a representative of the group spent at a Washington strip club, said a person who took part in the session.
… In late January, Mr. Trump issued an executive order calling for the fielding and deployment of a missile shield to protect the United States from attacks by adversaries such as North Korea and Iran. At the White House’s urging, Pentagon officials scrambled over the course of a few days to put together a “package” directing the Pentagon’s vast bureaucracy to begin moving forward on the complex project.
The document sat unsigned in the defense secretary’s office for nearly three weeks while White House officials called almost daily to check on its status, current and former defense officials said. …”
