Washington DC - The White House blocked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's pick for Pentagon chief of staff and moved to select its own candidate for the position.

Hegseth's pick – Marine Colonel Ricky Buria – was vetoed by the President Donald Trump after months of turmoil at the top of the Department of Defense, an investigation by the Guardian revealed.

The White House reportedly told Hegseth that while Buria was a clear break from Joe Kasper, who left the role amid an investigation into high-profile leaks, his limited experience as a junior military assistant made him a liability.

"Ricky will not be getting the chief position," one source said. "He doesn’t have adequate experience, lacks the political chops and is widely disliked by almost everyone in the White House who has been exposed to him."

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Buria will reportedly be allowed to stay on as a senior adviser so long as the Trump administration gets to parachute its own candidate for chief of staff.

The intervention comes amid chaos at the Pentagon, with Hegseth embroiled in multiple scandals.

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has also left his post in the wake of Signalgate, when top government officials accidentally included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a group chat discussing plans to bomb Yemen.

Buria is also suspected of having sent sensitive information over Signal and part of the investigation into the scandal.