The Guardian: Two crises threaten the “reckless” US Secretary of War

Pete Hegseth is facing the most serious legal crisis since he became US Secretary of War, as he is being pursued by accusations of war crimes in the Caribbean and mishandling classified intelligence.

The crisis involves two interrelated issues that, according to former lawmakers, experts and politicians, shed light on a pattern of dangerous recklessness in the War Department’s administration, the first of which centers on the Trump administration’s military crackdown on drug traffickers in the Caribbean, which has killed 87 people in 22 attacks since September.

The case erupted after it was revealed that two survivors who were clinging to the wreckage of a boat destroyed by a US strike were killed and deliberately targeted in a double-tap strike.

While Hegseth initially dismissed the incident as fabricated, he re-acknowledged the basic facts during a ministerial meeting, citing the fog of war and stating that he didn’t stay to pursue the rest of the mission.

Meanwhile, an investigation by the War Department’s inspector general, published Thursday, concluded that Hegseth flagrantly violated Pentagon policies by sharing sensitive details about war plans via the messaging app Signal just hours before airstrikes in Yemen, including the amount and timing of US airstrikes, on March 15.

The report asserted that Hegseth’s actions created a risk to operational security that could have led to the failure of the US mission objectives and the potential for harm to US pilots.

The information, which is classified as confidential and not allowed to be shared with foreigners, was passed on through

Hegseth’s unclassified personal device in group conversations with other officials in President Donald Trump’s administration.

The investigation also found that he didn’t retain all of the associated messages, violating federal record-keeping requirements.

These developments have sparked widespread outrage in Congress. Senator Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said the report made clear that “Secretary Hegseth violated Department of Defense policies and shared information that was confidential at the time it was sent to him”.

These were the exact timings and locations of the strikes, and if they had fallen into enemy hands, the Houthis could have been able to target the American pilots.

Senator Patty Murray, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said: “Between overseeing this campaign in the Caribbean, risking the lives of soldiers by sharing war plans on Signal… It has become quite clear that Minister Hegseth is unqualified for this role”.

The New Democrats, the largest Democratic bloc in the House of Representatives with 116 members, issued a statement calling Hegseth “incompetent, reckless and a threat to the lives of men and women serving in the armed forces”.

The bloc’s chairman, Brad Schneider, and the head of the National Security Working Group, Jill Cisneros, accused the secretary of war of “lying, evading and holding his subordinates accountable rather than taking them”.

“He is a disgrace to the position he holds, and he should resign immediately before his actions cause the loss of American lives”.

Experts and former officials have questioned the strategic viability of Trump’s campaign to combat fentanyl smuggling.

Jake Brown, a former Biden administration official, noted that the military focus in the Caribbean seems misplaced, saying, “If they want to stop fentanyl, it’s better to focus on the tunnels and the border in Arizona, not the boats in the Caribbean,” explaining that the drugs enter by land from Mexico rather than by sea from Venezuela.

The Pentagon, for its part, seemed confused in its media messaging, failing to provide a coherent account of the chain of command that oversaw the strikes.

While the White House initially suggested that Admiral Frank Bradley, commander of special operations at Southern Command, had ordered the second strike in self-defense, Hegseth later said Bradley made the decision with his prior consent, but that he had full authority to act independently.

President Donald Trump claimed that he knew nothing about the operational details and even went so far as to say that he wouldn’t have supported the second strike.

Amid this conflicting narrative, political and media pressure is mounting on Hegseth, at a time when legal and ethical questions about the Caribbean campaign — and the Pentagon’s handling of sensitive information — remain unanswered.

Hegseth appeared defiant at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, insisting that the military had only just begun targeting drug boats, despite acknowledging that there was difficulty finding targets at the moment.

Just two days later, the War Department announced a new strike that killed four people.

Despite all this, Trump continues to defend his secretary of war, asserting full confidence in him and the national security team, meaning Hegseth is likely to remain in office under Republican control of the Senate.