New York Times: Defense Secretary wasted his credibility due to Yemen strike correspondence scandal
According to David French who wrote in the New York Times, that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has squandered his credibility as a military leader and can no longer confront members of the military over egregious security breach, calling for immediate consequences such as removal from command, followed by a comprehensive investigation, and possibly criminal charges.
David French said in his article that Jeffrey Goldberg, a journalist from The Atlantic magazine, broke one of the most bizarre stories, that Michael Waltz, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, had inadvertently invited him to join a group chat on the encrypted Signal app, which appeared to include several senior US administration officials, including Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Apparently, none of them noticed Goldberg, who was in the front row during the discussion of Trump’s decision to attack the Yemeni Houthi group.
At 11:44 am, on March 15, the account, identified as Pete Hegseth, sent a message containing operational details for the upcoming strikes on Yemen, including information on targets, weapons to be deployed by the United States, and the sequence of attacks.
David French said it was a blatant security breach.
“I’m a former officer in the Military Advocate General’s Office who helped investigate numerous allegations of leaks of classified information, and I’ve never heard of anything so egregious: a defense secretary deliberately using a civilian messaging app to share sensitive war plans without even noticing a journalist was in the chat,” he added.
The author emphasized the egregious nature of this violation, saying it typically leads to dismissal from command and then a full investigation and possibly criminal charges, because federal law makes it a crime for someone to remove national defense-related information from its location or deliver it to any person, or to lose, steal, take, or destroy it.
The author stated that nothing destroys a leader’s credibility with soldiers more than hypocrisy or double standards.
When leaders violate the rules, they impose on their soldiers, they shatter the bond of trust between them.
The best leaders I’ve known would never ask a soldier to comply with a rule that didn’t apply to them, because they set an example.
