Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is once again in hot water amid reports that the Pentagon is in a state of "chaos" and "dysfunction" due to his lack of leadership.
John Ullyot, a former chief Pentagon spokesman, wrote an op-ed in Politico after resigning last week, saying that Hegseth's tenure has been a disaster and that he does not expect the former Fox News host to remain in the position.
"It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president—who deserves better from his senior leadership," Ullyot wrote, adding that, "it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer.”
Ullyot's op-ed came the same day The New York Times reported that Hegseth was sharing confidential war planning on a second Signal chat. According to the Times’ report, Hegseth created this new Signal chat from his personal phone and discussed classified information about military strikes in Yemen. It’s the kind of action he said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should be in prison for—even though Clinton was not sharing military strike plans via an unsecure messaging app.
What’s more, Hegseth included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer in the chat, even though they had no reason to be briefed on the information.
It’s the second time Hegseth shared classified war plans on Signal—a messaging app that is not meant for sharing highly classified military plans. In the first chat, which a Trump administration official mistakenly added a journalist to, Hegseth also shared detailed information on plans to strike the Houthi militant group in Yemen.
A Civiqs poll conducted for Daily Kos found a majority of voters think Hegseth should be fired for sharing classified material on Signal. According to the poll, 51% of registered voters said whoever shared classified information on Signal should be fired, with 24% saying that person should be disciplined in some way.
Related | Trump's brain trust leaks secret military plans in dumbest way possible
Meanwhile, Hegseth is bleeding top staff, with his chief of staff set to resign in the coming days, and three other of his top aides fired as part of a probe into leaks from the Pentagon, Politico reported.
“The front office has some really first-rate uniformed military staff, but there’s only so much they can pick up in an organization that big,” a former Trump administration official told Politico of the chaos Hegseth has inflicted on the Pentagon. “That kind of dysfunction compounds.”
Hegseth’s poor leadership was totally predictable.
Hegseth was accused of sexual assault and of being a drunk—behavior so abhorrent that his own mother once sent him an email condemning his actions. He was also forced out of not one but two leadership roles at a veterans nonprofit for “financial mismanagement, drunkenness and sexist behavior,” the Guardian reported.
Republicans had concerns about Hegseth’s leadership capabilities, but voted to confirm him anyway after Dear Leader Donald Trump stuck with his Pentagon pick.
For now, the Trump administration claims Hegseth's job is safe.
"The President stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday morning in an appearance on Fox News. “And this is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and against the monumental change that you are trying to implement.”
But given that Leavitt is a shameless liar, you can never take her word as gospel.
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