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“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared details of a March attack on Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis in a message group that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer… Hegseth shared details of the attack similar to those revealed last month by The Atlantic magazine after its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was included in a separate chat on the Signal app by mistake.” Reuters
“President Donald Trump said on Monday that he stood behind U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth… ‘Pete's doing a great job. Everybody's happy with him,’ Trump said. Asked if he remained confident in Hegseth, Trump said: ‘Oh totally.’ ‘Ask the Houthis how he's doing,’ Trump said. The U.S. military, under Trump, has ramped up its bombing campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi group.” Reuters
Here’s our previous coverage of war plans being revealed on Signal. The Flip Side
The left is critical of Hegseth, arguing that he is unqualified.
“[Hegseth] never rose above the rank of major and never commanded above the platoon level (a typical platoon has 36 soldiers). If he had stayed in the military, it would have taken him years to qualify for battalion or brigade command…
“While he is a graduate of Princeton University, Hegseth never attended the military schools — command and staff colleges and war colleges — that are typically necessary for higher-level promotions. His performance as a Fox News weekend host appears to have played a big role in how he landed his present position. Thus, the 44-year-old Hegseth is in way over his head now that he leads a department with 3.4 million civilian and uniformed employees.”
Max Boot, Washington Post
“[The information Hegseth shared] could quite obviously have jeopardized a mission and endangered American lives if it fell into the wrong hands, given that it offered details about upcoming strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen… But to focus on Signal and the classification of the information is to miss the forest for the trees. It’s not just apparent carelessness with sensitive information; it’s also the other mistakes and discord…
“The Defense Department last month canceled a briefing in which it was due to share secret China war plans with Elon Musk, after sources told The Washington Post that Trump objected to it. More recently, Hegseth parted ways with three of his top aides less than three months into the job. He has accused them of leaking, but they deny it…
“Another recently departed former top aide, spokesman John Ullyot [wrote] an extraordinary Politico op-ed in which he described ‘total chaos at the Pentagon,’ citing the exits of the other top aides. And to be clear, these aren’t holdovers from the Biden administration. These are people who have long histories of working for Hegseth and for Trump. These are people Hegseth selected three months ago.”
Aaron Blake, Washington Post
“One of the most quietly stunning phrases of the latest scoop could easily escape notice: ‘according to four people with knowledge of the chat.’ The fact that four separate people were willing to speak about this to the Trump-detested New York Times is an indication of dysfunction, just as the constant stream of leaks from within the first Trump White House laid bare the internecine warfare there.”
David A. Graham, The Atlantic
“In a normal and healthy political environment, Hegseth would have no choice at this point but to start writing his resignation letter… Then again, in a normal and healthy political environment, a president wouldn’t have nominated a manifestly unqualified, scandal-plagued television personality to lead the Defense Department, and in a normal and healthy political environment, his nomination would’ve received zero confirmation votes in the Senate.”
Steve Benen, MSNBC
The right is divided.
The right is divided.
“This is just the same Signal ‘scandal’ dressed up again for a re-run in April. Yawn. That's not to say that these were good practices by the nat-sec team at the White House. Hopefully they learned a lesson about using chat platforms for sensitive discussions, especially after letting Jeffrey Goldberg into the room. However, this is hardly the stuff of dismissals, especially lately, and especially at the DoD…
“Did anyone in the media or the DoD demand the firing of Lloyd Austin when he went AWOL at the same time his deputy was on vacation? Did Austin and others get fired for botching the Kabul withdrawal, a sequence that actually did cost the lives of 13 service members and probably hundreds or thousands of Afghans? Did the media ever press Joe Biden to account for the 14,000 Americans abandoned by his nat-sec team to the Taliban in the summer of 2021?”
Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
Others argue, “It is unfortunate for Hegseth and his defenders… that this incident reinforces the worst perceptions of the new defense secretary, particularly that he is unqualified to manage the massive department and that his temperament isn’t suited to the task. The media outbursts and the transparent spin attempts reveal a man whose actions fall short of the office’s demands. Taking responsibility and moving on would have been the bigger move…
“Hegseth’s errors transcend politics… Of course, it matters that Trump projects strength and confidence, and he is understandably loath to give his enemies a political win. But it’s arguable that sticking with Hegseth despite this most recent disturbing incident sets up a bigger win for Democrats in the future… With each new controversy, the America First movement’s claim to competence loses valuable credibility. At some point, you have to cut your losses.”
Peter Laffin, Washington Examiner
“Three advisers were dismissed last week and hit social media to claim ill-treatment. Another departed adviser published an account of what he called ‘a month of total chaos at the Pentagon’ in Politico… The media didn’t make up the staff turmoil, or the embarrassing Signal chat that Mr. Hegseth didn’t deny…
“The staff infighting, dismissals, and leaks over Signal app chats look to be the self-inflicted mistakes of a management neophyte… If Mr. Hegseth is wise, he’ll use the staff shakeup to hire some loyal grownups who know the building, instead of the self-promoting isolationists he first brought in…
“What is harder to know is how much these first two months on the job have hurt Mr. Hegseth’s credibility inside the military. His calling card is enforcing high standards and accountability at every military level. He’s relieved several general officers to make his point, sometimes firing indiscriminately without checking his scope. Is the secretary accountable himself?”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
