A former high Pentagon spokesperson has slammed secretary of protection Pete Hegseth’s management of the division of protection, as stress mounts on the US’s high army official following stories of a second Sign chatroom used to debate delicate army operations.
John Ullyot, who resigned final week after initially serving as Pentagon spokesperson, mentioned in a opinion essay revealed by Politico on Sunday that the Pentagon has been overwhelmed by employees drama and turnover within the preliminary months of the second Trump administration.
Ullyot referred to as the state of affairs a “full-blown meltdown” that might value Hegseth, a 44-year-old former Fox Information host and Nationwide Guard officer, his job.
“It’s been a month of whole chaos on the Pentagon. From leaks of delicate operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a significant distraction for the president — who deserves higher from his senior management,” Ullyot wrote.
The warning got here as the New York Occasions reported that Hegseth shared particulars of a US assault on Yemeni Houthi rebels final month particulars in a second Sign chat that he created himself and included his spouse, his brother and a couple of dozen different individuals.
The Guardian has independently confirmed the existence of Hegseth’s personal personal group chat.
In line with unnamed sources accustomed to the chat who spoke to the Occasions, Hegseth despatched the personal group of his private associates among the identical info, together with the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets that will strike Houthi insurgent targets in Yemen, that he additionally shared with one other Sign group of high officers that was created by Mike Waltz, the nationwide safety adviser.
The existence of the Sign group chat created by Waltz, wherein detailed assault plans had been divulged by Hegseth to different Trump administration officers on the personal messaging app, had been made public by the Atlantic journal’s Jeffrey Goldberg, who had been by accident added to the group.
The existence of a second Sign chat, coupled with Ullyot’s devastating portrait of the Pentagon beneath Hegseth, is more likely to improve stress on the White Home to take motion.
The Pentagon’s chief spokesperson Sean Parnell issued a press release in a submit on X on Sunday evening following the New York Occasions report.
“One other day, one other outdated story – again from the lifeless,” Parnell mentioned. “The Trump-hating media continues to be obsessive about destroying anybody dedicated to President Trump’s agenda. This time, the New York Occasions — and all different Pretend Information that repeat their rubbish — are enthusiastically taking the grievances of disgruntled former workers as the only sources for his or her article.
“There was no labeled info in any Sign chat, regardless of what number of methods they attempt to write the story. What’s true is that the Workplace of the Secretary of Protection is constant to develop into stronger and extra environment friendly in executing President Trump’s agenda. We’ve already achieved a lot for the American warfighter, and can by no means again down.”
Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic senator from Illinois and fight veteran, mentioned in a press release that the second Sign chat put the lives of our women and men in uniform at larger danger:
“What number of occasions does Pete Hegseth have to leak labeled intelligence earlier than Donald Trump and Republicans perceive that he isn’t solely a f*cking liar, he’s a menace to our nationwide safety?
“Daily he stays in his job is one other day our troops’ lives are endangered by his singular stupidity,” Duckworth mentioned. “He should resign in shame.”
Jack Reed, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island, a senior member of the senate armed providers committee, mentioned the report, if true, “is one other troubling instance of Secretary Hegseth’s reckless disregard for the legal guidelines and protocols that each different army service member is required to observe”.
Reed referred to as on Hegseth to “instantly clarify why he reportedly texted labeled info that might endanger American service members’ lives on a industrial app that included his spouse, brother, and private lawyer.”
Reed mentioned he had “warned that Mr. Hegseth lacks the expertise, competence, and character to run the Division of Protection. In mild of the continued chaos, dysfunction, and mass firings beneath Mr. Hegseth’s management, plainly these objections had been well-founded.”
Ullyot warned that beneath Hegseth “the Pentagon focus is now not on warfighting, however on limitless drama” and mentioned “the president deserves higher than the present mishegoss on the Pentagon.”
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