Existence of group chat including Hegseth, his wife and others prompt calls for defense secretary to step down
A former top Pentagon spokesperson has slammed Pete Hegseth’s leadership of the department of defense, as pressure mounts on the US’s top military official following reports of a second Signal chatroom used to discuss sensitive military operations.
John Ullyot, who resigned last week after initially serving as Pentagon spokesperson, said in a opinion essay published by Politico on Sunday that the Pentagon has been overwhelmed by staff drama and turnover in the initial months of the second Trump administration.
Ullyot called the situation a “full-blown meltdown” that could cost Hegseth, a 44-year-old former Fox News host and National Guard officer, his job as defense secretary.
What I don’t get about this is the reason. You’d think maybe more insider trading, but why would you need such specific information for that? A simple "attack on Yemen at…“ would be enough. In the first chat at least the people were tangentially concerned with the content, but his wife and lawyer? And ten more associates? For what, bragging rights? He must have known on some level that this is quite sensitive information and should not be shared with just about anyone. The sheer stupidity of all this is incomprehensible to me, it truly boggles the mind.
And one more thing: all of this has had no real consequences for the troops yet, but these kinds of failures will lead to catastrophic outcomes eventually. The Pentagon is now a clown-show and it is dealing with live-and-death decisions constantly. What a crazy time.
What I don’t get about this is the reason.
The man is, as predicted, staggeringly incompetent. He’s just that bad at his job.
That’s legitimately his only qualification for the job. That and being a brown nosing Yes Man.
