Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth does not know how texting works. Somehow, he leaked another round of information regarding military operations.
This isn’t the first time that this has happened, though. Back in March, he did something similar, except that chat included top White House officials, somehow adding a journalist into the action. He gave detailed information about airstrikes in Yemen only hours before that original strike, endangering the pilots if the chats were intercepted by any enemies of the U.S. This time, similar information was leaked once again.
The classified information he shared went to his wife, brother and lawyer on his personal smartphone, which is the first red flag. I don’t see the logic behind any of the people he shared it with, unless he knew that the information would be noticed by people outside of the chat. In that case, it makes sense that he might as well get a head start with his lawyer.
At this point, I’m just waiting for it to happen for a third time, although his lack of skills with texting has hopefully gotten the White House to look for someone to replace him. I’m not surprised, especially since the government should be some of the most competent and capable people in the country.
Yet, a post by the press secretary denied the claim that Hegseth will be replaced. How? By a post on X, saying that President Donald Trump still stands strongly behind him. Makes sense.
Hegseth even denied the leaks at a White House Easter event, saying that the media shouldn’t be taking information from “disgruntled former employees” who were out to ruin people’s reputations. The former employees he was likely talking about were four senior advisors who left the Pentagon the week prior. Plus, three more were accused of leaking information to the press, although their claims have no mention of exactly what these people leaked.
If we had to start from the bottom, Hegseth needs to take responsibility for what happened. It obviously did, so no one is trying to make him look bad. He did that enough by himself. Secondly, someone needs to take his phone for a little bit if he doesn’t figure out how to use it soon.
According to Raw Story, a government watchdog group has filed a lawsuit because the app that the first group chat allegedly was used on automatically deletes messages, which violates the Federal Records Act. The act makes sure that all important records are preserved by the government so the general public has a historical record of what decisions were made, according to the Center for Presidential Transition.
Why use a texting group chat for such classified information? Why not a secure email or something like that? Maybe they should have just written each other notes; that way they at least know who it’s going to.
Hayley Doda can be contacted at
hayley@kscequinox.com
