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Aide’s rise under Hegseth scrutinized in White House, Pentagon

Pete Hegseth’s 100-day tenure as defense secretary has brought an unceremonious end to the careers of numerous top military officers - but it has also created unexpected avenues for advancement, including for one Marine who has thrown his lot in with the controversial Pentagon chief.

Biden-era officials say they were flabbergasted when Ricky Buria, a respected officer who worked closely with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, abruptly set aside a promising future in uniform to assume a political position as a senior adviser to Hegseth, whose security lapses and anti-diversity agenda have fueled widespread calls from Democrats, and at least one Republican, to resign.

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The change in course by Buria, who had been seen as a rising star in the Marine Corps, underscores the different ways in which Hegseth’s disruptive approach is impacting the military ranks, summarily ousting at least nine senior officers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, while creating unconventional - and professionally risky - opportunities for others.

It also illustrates how the increasingly politicized climate enveloping what has been one of America’s most independent institutions has created risks even for allies of the defense secretary, as White House officials and other Republicans voice concern about Buria - even after his recent, unexpected retirement - because of his association with Austin and his status as one of the few top aides who span the administrations.

“In a place with a lot of purity tests,” one person familiar with the issue said, “that could be a kiss of death.”

Buria did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did spokespeople for Hegseth.

Some Republicans loyal to the president have sought to block the elevation of Buria, whom officials say Hegseth has openly considered for his next chief of staff following a purge of top aides, by alerting the White House to his background, said two people familiar with the issue. Officials there have begun to ask questions about him, one of those officials said. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

Buria, an MV-22 pilot who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has emerged as a top contender for one of the Pentagon’s most powerful jobs only months after being named as Austin’s junior military aide. In a prestigious but unglamorous role, a junior military aide typically acts as a defense secretary’s “body man,” shadowing him at the Pentagon or overseas, getting his meals and ensuring necessary documents are in hand for meetings or public remarks. The job exposes officers to top-level operations and typically opens doors leading to the military’s highest ranks.

Former officials who worked alongside Buria in the Biden administration said the Marine was usually the first person to greet Austin at the Pentagon in the morning and would typically remain until the retired general was ready to go home. They described Buria as competent and focused, and said he never gave any indication about his political views or suggested he disagreed with Biden-era policies.

“He was an absolute professional,” one former official said.

When Austin stepped down in January, Buria posted words of praise and gratitude for some of the outgoing secretary’s political aides, including deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh.

“I can’t wait to serve with you again,” Buria wrote on LinkedIn.

When Hegseth arrived at the Pentagon in January, Buria quickly became close with the former Fox News host and his wife, Jennifer, according to people familiar with the inner workings of Hegseth’s team. They attributed that partly to Buria’s role, in which he saw Pete Hegseth daily and traveled with him on weekends to Tennessee, where the Hegseths own a home. Hegseth, who came to his role with little Washington experience, also bounced ideas off Buria, they said.

His stature in Hegseth’s circle grew in February when Hegseth fired Buria’s boss, Air Force Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short, whom Austin had appointed as senior military aide, another nonpartisan role typically held by a three-star military officer who bridges administrations and has often gone on to be promoted to a high-profile job.

Her firing left a vacancy that Hegseth let Buria fill temporarily. As such, he was seated alongside Hegseth for bilateral meetings with foreign dignitaries, an unusual move for an officer of his rank. His relative influence expanded again when, in a sign of upheaval among his top advisers, Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, stepped aside and other senior aides were forced out amid a leak investigation.

That Buria had assumed Short’s role rubbed some the wrong way at the Pentagon, where hierarchy and tradition can be sacrosanct. Generals and other military staff grumbled about Buria, who was promoted to the rank of colonel only last fall, delivering curt messages from Hegseth to officers far more senior, two officials said.

The arrival in April of Army Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve as Hegseth’s new senior military assistant shifted the dynamics again. Buria was due to return to his less-influential role, which people familiar with the issue said made the prospect of leaving the military for an advisory position appealing despite the controversy that has largely defined Hegseth’s stewardship of the institution.

“It was going to be hard for him to step back into the JMA role,” one person familiar with the issue said, using an acronym for junior military assistant. “He was telling certain folks that he was willing to retire and become a civilian person all the way back in March.”

Buria’s move appears all the more surprising because of the stark contrast between the two men he has served in the Pentagon’s executive suite: Austin, a reserved retired four-star general who largely avoided the spotlight after becoming the first African American defense secretary, and Hegseth, a former National Guard major and conservative TV personality who has routinely attacked critics on social media and focused on rooting out the military’s diversity programs.

Despite Democrats’ criticism of Hegseth, he has remained defiant - and President Donald Trump has voiced his support.

“I have so much confidence in him,” Trump told supporters in Michigan on Tuesday night. “The fake news is after him, really after him, but he’s a tough cookie. They don’t know how tough he is.”

Some former officials who praised Buria’s performance under Austin questioned whether his gamble would pay off.

“It seems like a miscalculation, with Hegseth on the ropes,” one former official said.

“He went from being in a low-key, safe position under Hegseth to a white-hot dangerous one,” said another.

Former officials noted that successful chiefs of staff at the Pentagon, with its budget of more than $800 billion and a famously unwieldy bureaucracy, often have broad experience across government agencies and Congress, credentials many military officers lack.

Given Hegseth’s lack of experience in Washington policymaking, “he really needs ballast in the team underneath him,” one of the former officials said.

For Buria to retire with his current rank, a consideration with significant implications for his retirement pay, he would need to either serve as a colonel for two years or seek and receive a waiver from the Defense Department, defense officials familiar with the issue said.

In recent days, Buria has stepped out as a voice for the “Make America Great Again” movement, setting up a social media account on X and boosting posts from Hegseth, the White House and other administration accounts that boast about Trump’s record and tout the military’s expanded role on the southern border and its steps to tighten fitness standards for troops.

He has also echoed attacks by Trump and Hegseth on the media, a frequent target of both officials when they face criticism.

“Results…not fake news!” Buria wrote. “Thank you President Trump for your clear leadership!”