In what can only be described as a stunning breach of national security protocol, the Trump administration has once again demonstrated its utter incompetence with a reckless disregard for safeguarding of sensitive military operational secrets.
The controversy stems from a Signal chat— an encrypted messaging app that failed to meet security standards—in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top officials casually discussed strike plans against Houthi militants in Yemen, inadvertently including Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, in the conversation.
“Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified defense secretary in American history,” said Lisa McCormick, the progressive Democrat who almost unseated disgraced former US Senator Bob Menendez in the 2018 primary election. “Hegseth was unfit to lead the Pentagon before he shared national security secrets in this stunning display of recklessness and disregard for the lives of our men and women in uniform.”
“Hegseth should resign and if he doesn’t, he should be fired because our national security cannot be left in incompetent and unqualified hands,” said McCormick. “I am calling on Senator Cory Booker to stop authoring bipartisan resolutions, like the one to commemorate Greece’s history as the birthplace of democracy, and instead start making contributions to preserve the power of the people here in the United States.”
The revelations, first reported by Goldberg and later corroborated by leaked transcripts, have sent shockwaves through Washington.
Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Jack Reed, the panel’s top Democrat, are demanding an expedited Inspector General report and a classified briefing from President Donald Trump’s administration.