The wife of a top Pete Hegseth aide is backing away from part of her new job after a reporter asked questions.
Jill Buria, whose husband Ricky Buria serves as Hegseth’s chief of staff at the Pentagon, registered on Sunday to lobby the Defense Department on behalf of a federal contractor, according to a report published Thursday by Politico. After reporter Daniel Lippman reached out, her firm said she would no longer lobby the Pentagon.
Buria joined the lobbying shop Checkmate Government Relations last month and signed on to represent Cartridge Technologies, a federal data management contractor also known as CTI. The disclosure listed her alongside four Checkmate colleagues working on Pentagon acquisition issues for the company, which paid the firm $110,000 in the most recent quarter, Politico reported.
She had also registered on Oct. 14 to lobby for Pantheon Data, an IT and cybersecurity company seeking help with what the filing described as funding problems. The Navy canceled Pantheon’s $170 million contract to modernize its human resources system last year, at a time when DOGE was slashing federal spending.
According to lobbying records cited by Politico, Buria had never registered as a federal lobbyist before. She spent eight years at Deloitte, rising to senior manager, and previously worked for Marine Corps Community Services.
Ches McDowell, Checkmate’s managing partner, told Politico the disclosure would be amended to reflect that Buria would not lobby the Pentagon, chalking the original listing up to an administrative error. He insisted she had never lobbied the department and argued that tying her career to her husband’s position was “borderline sexist.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told Politico that Ricky Buria has completely recused himself from any Defense Department matters involving his wife’s clients and that he follows all ethics rules.
Neither Jill nor Ricky Buria responded to Politico’s requests for comment.
SCOOP: Jill Buria, who’s married to Pete Hegseth chief of staff Ricky Buria, on Sunday registered to lobby the Pentagon as part of her new K Street job. After I asked her, her firm told me she will no longer work to influence the Defense Department. https://t.co/OXVeMlI8nS https://t.co/OrOzHZEuUt — Daniel Lippman (@dlippman) October 22, 2026
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