CNN
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Pete Hegseth didn’t become defense secretary because he had the resume of a great statesman.
But President Donald Trump spent huge political capital getting Hegseth confirmed because the Pentagon chief mirrors Trump’s own riotous political identify and instincts. The point of his selection was to show the conventions and traits that normally define top national security officials don’t apply in the president’s tear-it-down second term.
This is why Hegseth seems safe for now despite stunning new revelations that he shared sensitive military plans in a group chat that included his wife and brother, among others, following an earlier scandal over his communicating details about strikes on Yemen in a chat with top officials.
It’s not entirely surprising that the former Fox News anchor isn’t acting like the kind of national security official who guards sensitive information with their life.
“It’s what you get when you don’t really care about qualifications for jobs like that, when you’re not picking people who are experienced, when your major qualification is personal fealty to Donald Trump,” Trump first-term national security adviser John Bolton said Monday on “CNN News Central.” “That’s what he’s got in Hegseth. That’s why he’s sticking with him. But it’s not what you need to do the job.”
Everyone in a Trump Cabinet operates on borrowed time. The phrase “serving at the pleasure of the president” feels particularly apt given the capricious nature of this commander in chief.
But firing Hegseth three months into a tenure that started with national security experts warning he was dangerously unprepared to lead the Pentagon would force an embarrassed Trump to admit he’d made a mistake.
And, critically, Hegseth has not yet committed the unpardonable transgression that led to the departure of two Trump first-term defense secretaries – trying to thwart the president. The first, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, fought a long battle to rein in the president’s “America first” foreign policy instincts. The final straw came when Trump demanded the withdrawal of US troops from Syria. Another former defense secretary, Mark Esper, wrote his resignation letter months before a departure that was made inevitable when he publicly said he’d oppose the use of troops to quell domestic political protests.
Fresh drama around Hegseth is another reminder that 47th president’s orbit doesn’t follow the rules of normal administrations, in which the breach of sensitive information would be a career-ending disgrace.
Those ejected from the chaotic Trump political inner circle, by contrast, usually committed a transgression that offends or contradicts the president himself.
The latest controversy concerns detailed plans about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen that were shared on a second Signal group chat. This one was on the former Fox News anchor’s personal phone and included his wife, lawyer and brother, three people familiar with the chat told CNN. The chat was set up during Hegseth’s confirmation hearing process, two of those familiar with the matter said. But Hegseth continued using the chat to communicate after he was confirmed, the sources said.
As a national security matter, Hegseth’s lack of discretion mocks the standards and laws that his civilian and military subordinates must follow. It’s even possible that active-duty US personnel engaged in strikes against the Iran-backed militants in Yemen might have been put at risk.
If Hegseth’s alarmingly cavalier approach – which could leave conversations about military operations sensitive to penetration by hostile intelligence agencies – had caused a military disaster, Trump would have no option but to act. That point has not yet been reached. But if his stewardship of the military as a whole reflects his carelessness so far, alarm will mount about the quality of advice reaching the president.
There will also be questions of morale and the defense secretary’s authority, since lower-level staffers or military personnel would almost certainly face discipline, dismissal or even prosecution for such lax handling of sensitive material.
News of the second Signal chat came as some of Hegseth’s closest former advisers issued warnings about turmoil at the Pentagon. They included his former spokesman John Ullyot and three former senior officials Hegseth fired last week – top adviser Dan Caldwell; deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick; and Colin Carroll, who was chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense.
“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 said in a statement obtained by CNN. Ullyot also wrote a Politico op-ed.
Signs of disorder at the Pentagon are especially worrying, since they are building at a moment when sober, careful leadership of the world’s most lethal military seems more important than ever.
The administration’s effort – for example – to try to end the war provoked when Russia, the world’s largest nuclear power, invaded Ukraine appear to be reaching a make-or-break point and could cause unpredictable geopolitical consequences. Trump’s team is in the middle of critical nuclear talks with Iran. If they fail, the president will face a fateful choice over whether to launch risky military strikes to thwart the Islamic Republic’s alleged pursuit of a nuclear weapon. And the president’s wild tariff war sharpened an already simmering standoff with China. Even a minor incident between forces in close quarters in tense East Asian waters could trigger a superpower conflict.
As is often the case, the dynamics at play in the new Hegseth crisis were laid bare in the administration’s public statements.
The secretary of defense displayed the pugilism that convinced Trump he was the man to carry out an “anti-woke” purge at the Pentagon in the incongruous setting of the White House South Lawn, where hundreds and kids and families enjoyed the annual Easter Egg Roll.
Hegseth slammed the “fake news” media, anonymous sources and “hoaxsters,” who he claimed concocted the new story to distract from his MAGA revolution across the river at US military headquarters to put “the Pentagon back in the hands of war fighters.” Looking directly into the camera, like he once did on “Fox and Friends,” he complained, “This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources, disgruntled former employees and they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations.”
This is classic Trumpian practice: deflecting a damaging controversy by creating a new fight with forces despised by the MAGA base and claiming any criticism is motivated by swampy forces opposed to the revolution.
Trump came to Hegseth’s aid at the same event, having spoken with the defense secretary after the story was first reported by The New York Times on Sunday.
“Pete’s doing a great job. Everybody’s happy with him,” Trump said. “It’s just fake news. They just make up stories. I guess it’s – sounds like disgruntled employees. He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that’s what he’s doing. You don’t always have friends when you do that.”
Trump’s stance showed he is loath to hand what his staffers would regard as a victory to journalists, whom they regard as adversaries in a bitter struggle.
This was not the first time the president has rescued Hegseth’s nascent political career. Trump strongly backed his then-nominee when his confirmation prospects were rocked by allegations related to drinking and sexual misconduct, which Hegseth denied, late last year. Many Washington pundits thought the nomination was toast. But the president’s refusal to lose Hegseth, an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran, was picked up by conservative media and activists who launched a fierce support campaign. The pressure forced several Republican senators who had reservations about Hegseth to move into line.
There’s no sign yet that support for Hegseth is beginning to crack again on Capitol Hill. But Republican senators were no doubt grateful for the Easter recess that had them back in their districts and away from Washington media.
There were some signs of disquiet, however.
Florida GOP Rep. Carlos Giménez told CNN’s Pamela Brown that the new allegations around Hegseth “should be a lesson to everybody” in the administration. “A lot of the federal agencies use Signal because it’s supposed to be an encrypted, very secure application. The fact that these things are being leaked now call into question how secure Signal really is,” Giminez said. But he did not weigh in on Hegseth’s fate.
In Trump’s world, everything revolves around leverage and loyalty. And the latest Hegseth scandal suggests he will be left in even greater debt to the president. He will presumably be even more keen to do whatever the president wants. So Trump may enjoy having him around a bit longer.
But even Trump might be forced to rethink if it emerged that Hegseth continued to post sensitive military details on messaging apps after the first Signal storm was reported by the Atlantic.
There’s one other rule from the president’s first term that might apply. Every under-fire subordinate has Trump’s confidence – right up until the moment they don’t.
