The Message Pete Hegseth Sends the Troops
Before setting foot in the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth had something to prove. He was confirmed as defense secretary by the narrowest vote margin in modern history, 51-to-50, after facing withering allegations about excessive drinking, sexual assault and the lack of relevant experience to lead the federal government’s largest agency.
But as we’ve seen in the new Trump era, personal missteps and lack of experience can become bona fides for one’s potential as a bureaucratic change agent. And so it was with Mr. Hegseth, the former Fox News host and Army National Guard major, who quickly got to work cultivating the image of a common soldier shaking up the Pentagon and pushing military brass to get back to basics.
Last week’s shocking report that Mr. Hegseth shared sensitive information about a yet-to-be-launched air attack in Yemen on an unclassified messaging app is now straining the limits of his credibility as an everyman — and his fitness to lead the American military’s 2.1 million service members.
Americans stationed across the globe know if they violate similar security protocols, they can expect swift reprimand, the loss of security clearance and perhaps a court-martial. In his first departmentwide message on Jan. 25, Mr. Hegseth told troops he was a firm believer in holding everyone to account. “Our standards will be high, uncompromising, and clear,” he wrote. Now those same operational security standards don’t appear to apply to him. What message is sent to American troops if that imbalance continues?
Mr. Hegseth, so far, has insisted he didn’t do anything wrong in the ordeal, which began March 24 after The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he had been inadvertently added to a Signal chat by Michael Waltz, President Trump’s national security adviser. The text exchange Mr. Goldberg published two days later, which was among senior Trump administration national security officials — all of them political, none military — discussed preparations for a military operation in Yemen. The messages show that Mr. Hegseth, unprompted, texted out the types of aircraft that would be used and the timing of the airstrikes on Houthi militia targets, hours before the mission was set to begin.
Mr. Hegseth has maintained that information was not secret, but a quick look at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s 2014 guide on classified material reveals otherwise, stating “information providing indication or advance warning that the U.S. or its allies are preparing an attack” is considered top-secret. That assessment appears straightforward, so why does Mr. Hegseth, or anyone else, claim the texted plans weren’t classified?
