Donald Trump's Pentagon is in disarray as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's top policy chief has gone rogue, blindsiding White House officials and foreign allies with unauthorized foreign policy decisions that have sent shockwaves through the administration, a report claimed Wednesday.
Elbridge Colby, the 45-year-old Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, has been operating like a loose cannon, making unilateral moves that have left senior officials scrambling and allies questioning America's reliability under Trump's leadership, Politico wrote.
The most explosive incident came when Colby secretly pushed through a proposal that led Hegseth to pause military aid to Ukraine without alerting the White House. The move caught the entire administration off guard and was so damaging that Trump himself had to publicly reverse it, admitting the U.S. would continue sending defensive weapons to Ukraine.
"Putin is not treating human beings right. He's killing too many people," Trump was forced to concede, highlighting the embarrassing policy reversal.
But Ukraine was just the beginning. Colby also stunned State Department and National Security Council officials by launching a surprise review of the critical AUKUS submarine partnership with Australia and the UK. The unauthorized move prompted one furious State Department official to ask: "Who is this f----ing guy?"
Multiple sources describe Colby as an administration pariah who's "p----ing off just about everyone" with his neo-isolationist agenda. One insider revealed that colleagues view him as "the guy who's going to make the U.S. do less in the world in general."
Colby's destructive approach has also created international incidents, Politico reported. His aggressive demands for Japan to increase defense spending from 3 percent to 5 percent of GDP without warning reportedly contributed to the collapse of a high-level bilateral meeting, leaving Japanese officials "very frustrated" and "angry."
European allies have been equally blindsided by Colby's erratic messaging, with the Pentagon telling partners they're not needed in Indo-Pacific operations, Politico reported.
Even MAGA officials are concerned that Colby's "shoot first and ask questions later" approach is undermining Trump's credibility on the world stage.
Despite the chaos, White House officials are publicly defending Colby, with State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce claiming his "innovative leadership" supports Trump's America First agenda.