The Long Knives Are Out for Pete Hegseth

Who needs to command loyalty at the Pentagon when you have incompetence to fall back on?

Photo by Daniel Lloyd Blunk-Fernández on Unsplash

Hey, remember my last newsletter, when I pointed out that “it’s [not a] great sign for U.S. national security when quotes like ‘there is a complete meltdown in the building’ and ‘there probably will be more chaos’ are used to describe the Pentagon”? That snark was in response to some personnel churn in Pete Hegseth’s Office of the Secretary of Defense, with three high-ranking staffers being shown the door. That churn was in turn due to the Signalgate scandal and Donald Trump’s refuse to fire anyone for it, “partly to deny his critics the satisfaction.”¹

None of this was a good look for Hegseth. On Saturday, however, the three fired staffers released a statement describing their treatment as “unconscionable,” claiming that they were dismissed without any due process or proper investigation for cause. This suggested that there would be plenty of disgruntled folks ready to spill the tea on Hegseth — assuming there was tea to spill.

Guess what? There was a lot of tea to spill.

Let’s start with what the New York Times’ Greg Jaffe, Eric Schmitt, and Maggie Haberman reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, according to four people with knowledge of the chat.

Some of those people said that the information Mr. Hegseth shared on the Signal chat included the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen — essentially the same attack plans that he shared on a separate Signal chat the same day that mistakenly included the editor of The Atlantic.

Mr. Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, is not a Defense Department employee, but she has traveled with him overseas and drawn criticism for accompanying her husband to sensitive meetings with foreign leaders.

Mr. Hegseth’s brother Phil and Tim Parlatore, who continues to serve as his personal lawyer, both have jobs in the Pentagon, but it is not clear why either would need to know about upcoming military strikes aimed at the Houthis in Yemen….

Unlike the chat in which The Atlantic was mistakenly included, the newly revealed one was created by Mr. Hegseth. It included his wife and about a dozen other people from his personal and professional inner circle in January, before his confirmation as defense secretary, and was named “Defense | Team Huddle,” the people familiar with the chat said. He used his private phone, rather than his government one, to access the Signal chat….

The chat also included two senior advisers to Mr. Hegseth — Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick — who were accused of leaking unauthorized information last week and were fired….

One person familiar with the chat said Mr. Hegseth’s aides had warned him a day or two before the Yemen strikes not to discuss such sensitive operational details in his Signal group chat, which, while encrypted, is not considered as secure as government channels typically used for discussing highly sensitive war planning and combat operations.

The NYT story describes an undisciplined Secretary of Defense showing zero regard for operational security. But this was only the first shoe to drop on Sunday. CNN’s Natasha Bertrand added some more details to this story, painting Hegseth as a Queeg-like martinet:

Sources told CNN the firings are just one symptom of the dysfunction that has enveloped Hegseth’s office over the last five weeks, which included sustained infighting between [Hegseth’s chief of staff Joe] Kasper, Caldwell, Selnick and [former chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense] Colin] Carroll.

A series of leaks about military planning for the Panama Canal and the Middle East, about a possible consolidation of the combatant commands, and about a classified China briefing for Elon Musk at the Pentagon had deeply rattled Hegseth by mid-March, sources told CNN. So he and Kasper launched a leak probe, complete with polygraph tests.

Following the press reports — including one in The New York Times about the questionable success of a massive military campaign against the Houthis — Hegseth began to lash out and grew suspicious that senior military officials, as well as some of his closest advisers, were leaking to undermine him, the sources added.

At one point, Hegseth even demanded an FBI probe into the leaks — which some of his aides advised against, sources said. There was already an active inspector general investigation focusing on Hegseth, and bringing in the FBI might only invite more scrutiny, those aides advised.

Hegseth has also grown increasingly concerned about the inspector general investigation, the sources said. Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll expect to be interviewed as part of that probe, the sources added….

Hegseth, for his part, has still not weighed in on the firings or turmoil inside his office and has avoided situations over the last week in which he may have encountered the press. Reporters were invited to cover the defense secretary welcoming his French counterpart to the Pentagon on Thursday, but Hegseth failed to show up, sending an aide instead.

None of this inspires confidence in Hegseth. But the most damning story to drop is a Politico essay by former DoD spokesperson John Ullyot that blasts Hegseth while still demonstrating fealty to Trump. The picture Ullyot paints of Hegseth’s leadership is, how you say, not great:

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.

President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account. Given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer….

Unfortunately, Hegseth’s team has developed a habit of spreading flat-out, easily debunked falsehoods anonymously about their colleagues on their way out the door.

Hegseth is now presiding over a strange and baffling purge that will leave him without his two closest advisers of over a decade — Caldwell and Selnick — and without chiefs of staff for him and his deputy. More firings may be coming, according to rumors in the building.

In short, the building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership….

Even strong backers of the secretary like me must admit: The last month has been a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon — and it’s becoming a real problem for the administration….

There are very likely more shoes to drop in short order, with even bigger bombshell stories coming this week, key Pentagon reporters have been telling sources privately….

Unfortunately, after a terrible month, the Pentagon focus is no longer on warfighting, but on endless drama.

The president deserves better than the current mishegoss at the Pentagon. Given his record of holding prior Cabinet leaders accountable, many in the secretary’s own inner circle will applaud quietly if Trump chooses to do the same in short order at the top of the Defense Department.

Ullyot’s record at the Pentagon is not exactly unblemished. His MAGA bona fides, however, are what make his essay so damning. No one can accuse him of showing disloyalty to Trump, or of speaking anonymously. He went on the record and wrote an essay confirming the chaotic, undisciplined nature of Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon.²

Combined, these stories confirm all of the fears and concerns national security observers expressed about Hegseth from the moment Trump nominated him. They also suggest that more dirt will be forthcoming. Between the inspector general report and the prospect of more damaging news stories, Hegseth’s name will stay in the headlines.

Will these stories force Hegseth out? In any other administration he never would have been nominated, never been confirmed, or never would have survived Signalgate. As Politico noted last month, “There is no administration in the world — beyond this one — where a blunder of these proportions happens and nobody gets fired or resigns. Not in London. Not in Moscow. Not in Tokyo. Not in Pyongyang. Nowhere.” So Trump might decide to stick with his embattled Secretary of Defense to deny his opponents any political victory.

The drip drip drip of damaging stories about Hegseth will clearly continue, however. They will feed the incompetence story line that is plaguing Trump’s second term. Oh, and they will also remind everyone that Hegseth is beclowning the executive branch and undermining U.S. national security.

Buckle up. It’s going to be another bumpy week for U.S. foreign policy.

1. There were other scandals as well.

2. It’s telling that Hegseth’s first tweet after all these stories were reported out did not address any of the allegations, but was rather a snarky reply to the Democrats.