Tag Archives: Yemen

‘We’re Looking For The Right Man’: Pete Hegseth Plans To Infiltrate The Military With MAGA, Reveals The DOD Is Only Hiring Trump Loyalists

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“DOD Is Only Hiring Trump Loyalists”

‘We’re Looking For The Right Man’: Pete Hegseth Plans To Infiltrate The Military With MAGA, Reveals The DOD Is Only Hiring Trump Loyalists
During a recent hearing held by the Senate Armed Services Committee several weeks ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remarked that people in the administration all “serve at the pleasure of the president.” Accordingly, there are vacancies in the Department of Defense (DOD) because they are looking for the “right” person to fill these positions.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/we-re-looking-for-the-right-man-pete-hegseth-plans-to-infiltrate-the-military-with-maga-reveals-the-dod-is-only-hiring-trump-loyalists/vi-AA1KWyRP

Independent: Pete Hegseth is requiring so much security it’s taking officers off of criminal investigations

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Members of U.S. Army’s law enforcement arm complain they are being taken out of the field to watch defense secretary’s family and homes

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s security requirements are so extensive that it is placing a strain on the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, according to a report.

The Washington Post reports that the CID, which is responsible for protecting top Pentagon officials as well as serving as the Army’s law enforcment arm, has been forced to draft agents who would otherwise be investigating criminal offenses concerning members of the Armed Forces to help watch over Hegseth’s family and their properties in D.C., Minnesota and Tennessee.

“I’ve never seen this many security teams for one guy,” one official told the newspaper. “Nobody has.”

The CID reportedly maintains around 1,500 agents in total, around 150 of whom are typically assigned to VIP security details.

But since Hegseth took office in January, the number shifted over into personal protection roles has risen to between 400 and 500, according to two differing estimates the paper received.

One CID official quoted by the Post expressed their frustration with the situation by saying agents were being prevented from “doing what we are supposed to be doing” in order to “sit on luggage” or “sit in the cars on the driveway.”

Others complained of having to shepherd the secretary’s children to school or patrol the perimeter of his properties.

“It is literally taking away from [CID’s] law enforcement mission,” they said. “You are taking hundreds of people out of the field to provide this level of protection.”

One of the reasons for the heightened security surrounding the secretary is the fact that he received a bomb threat at his Tennessee home late last year shortly after he was nominated to his post by President Donald Trump, which came a matter of months after two attempts were made on Trump’s own life during the campaign, the first of which saw the Secret Service heavily criticized.

Another is the complexity of Hegseth’s blended family, which includes one child from his marriage to Jennifer Hegseth as well as three from her previous marriage and another three from his.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell reacted angrily to the Post’s reporting and told The Independent: “In the wake of two assassinations attempts against President Trump, ICE agents facing a 1,000 percent increase in assaults, and repeated threats of retaliation from Iran for striking their nuclear capabilities, it’s astonishing that The Washington Post is criticizing a high-ranking cabinet official for receiving appropriate security protection, especially after doxxing the DHS Secretary last week.

“Any action pertaining to the security of Secretary Hegseth and his family has been in response to the threat environment and at the full recommendation the Army Criminal Investigation Division. When left-wing blogs like The Washington Post continue to dox cabinet secretaries’ security protocols and movements, it puts lives at risk.”

A senior CID official told The Independent: “While the department prioritizes the safety and security of assigned high-risk personnel, CID operates within existing resource constraints and proactively adjusts its efforts to address emerging threats and maintains a robust security posture in both the investigative and protective realms.”

“The secretary of defense never requested additional protection for his former spouses,” the official added, refuting one of the claims made by the Post. “Similarly, the secretary has never affected CID’s recommended security posture.”

Hegseth’s reign as the nation’s top defense official has been tumultuous so far, with U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin’s departure on Monday only the latest in an ongoing shake-up that has seen the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of naval operations, the commandant of the Coast Guard, and the vice chief of staff of the Air Force all changed in recent months.

The secretary has also struggled to replace his own chief of staff, spokesman and senior aides after they left and found himself caught up in the “Signalgate” scandal, which erupted in March when Trump’s short-lived national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat in which top secret information about an upcoming bombing raid on Houthi rebels in Yemen was discussed.

In addition, Hegseth, a former Fox News weekend host, has been caught up in a number of culture war issues, from the renaming of the U.S.S. Harvey Milk to questions arising from his decision to post a video on X in which a Christian nationalist pastor expressed his support for depriving women of the vote.

Hegseth security requirements ‘forcing officers off criminal investigations’
Members of U.S. Army’s law enforcement arm complain they are being taken out of the field to watch defense secretary’s family and homes

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/pete-hegseth-security-detail-protection-cid-b2811007.html

Daily Beast: ICE Accidentally Adds Wrong Person to Sensitive Group Chat

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The reported blunder echoes the Trump administration’s infamous Signalgate fiasco.

ICE has joined the Trump cabinet in the group chat disaster club.

Law enforcement officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies accidentally added a stranger to their group chat, exposing highly sensitive information about a manhunt, according to a 404 Media report published Thursday.

The blunder echoes the infamous Signal chat fiasco, in which a journalist was inadvertently included in a text chain where top members of the Trump administration discussed impending air strikes in Yemen.

The ICE messages, which discuss an active search for a convicted attempted murderer slated for deportation, were sent via MMS, or Multimedia Messaging Service, and were not end-to-end encrypted like messages on Signal or WhatsApp.

Officials reportedly texted an ICE “Field Operations Worksheet” on Wednesday that revealed detailed information about the person being sought—including their Social Security number—and DMV and license plate reader data, 404 Media reported.

The outlet labeled the incident a “significant data breach and operational security failure for ICE.”

404 Media reported that the group chat had six members, verifying one as an ICE official and identifying another as likely from the U.S. Marshals Service.

The Daily Beast has reached out to ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service for comment.

The person mistakenly added to the group chat is not a law enforcement official and had no connection to the manhunt, according to 404 Media. They told the outlet they were added weeks ago and assumed the messages were spam—until they received the ICE worksheet and license plate numbers.

404 Media, which said it obtained and verified screenshots from the group chat, has withheld the person’s identity to protect them from retaliation.

In Wednesday’s messages, the law enforcement officials discussed the search for their target and their next moves.

“Going to need to roll out at 1000,” one member texts the chat, called “Mass Text.”

“Copy. We can break it down at 10,” another replies.

The unintended recipient told 404 Media that the messages stopped coming shortly thereafter.

In what became known as “Signalgate,” Trump cabinet members, including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussed classified attack plans for airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen on a Signal chat.

ICE Accidentally Adds Wrong Person to Sensitive Group Chat
The reported blunder echoes the Trump administration’s infamous Signalgate fiasco.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-accidentally-adds-wrong-person-to-sensitive-group-chat-about-manhunt

Washington Post: Top Hegseth aide tried to oust senior White House liaison from Pentagon

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The unusual dispute received White House intervention and appears rooted in deeper frustrations over failed attempts to fill jobs on the defense secretary’s staff.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s acting chief of staff tried and failed to oust a senior White House liaison assigned to the Pentagon, people familiar with the matter said Monday, detailing an unusual dispute that marks the latest instance of infighting among a staff plagued by disagreement and distrust.

The clash last week between Ricky Buria, Hegseth’s acting chief of staff, and Matthew A. McNitt, who coordinates personnel policy as White House liaison at the Pentagon, appears rooted in Buria’s frustration with pushback from the White House as he has attempted to fill positions in the defense secretary’s office. It coincides, too, with the White House’s refusal to let Buria take over the powerful chief of staff job on a permanent basis.

Those familiar with the situation, which has not been previously reported, spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisal by the Trump administration.

The dispute between Buria and McNitt appears to have shaken a fragile agreement between Hegseth and the White House, which allowed Buria to serve as chief of staff only unofficially after several other people were considered for the position but declined to take it, the people familiar with the matter said. Officials at the White House, they said, intervened when Buria tried to get rid of McNitt, effectively blocking the move.

Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement that Trump is “fully supportive of Secretary Hegseth and his efforts to restore a focus on warfighters at the Pentagon,” rather than diversity efforts and “woke initiatives.”

Ninety percent of political appointments in the Defense Department have been filled, Kelly said, “and all personnel, including Matt McNitt, reflect the administration’s shared mission to ensure our military is the most lethal fighting force in the world.”

The statement did not reference Buria.

It is not clear whether Hegseth supported or approved Buria’s attempt to remove McNitt from the Pentagon, or whether the secretary was even made aware of the power play in advance.

Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman and senior adviser to Hegseth, declined to address questions about the situation, issuing a brief statement instead downplaying the intra-staff upheaval.

“When the Fake News Media has nothing to report to the American people, they resort [to] blog posting about water cooler gossip to meet their quota for clicks,” the statement said. “This kind of nonsense won’t distract our team from our mission.”

McNitt, who served in a handful of roles during the first Trump administration, could not be reached for comment. Buria did not respond to a request for comment.

Their dispute is the latest in a series of fights that has consumed the Pentagon over the first six months of President Donald Trump’s return to office. Hegseth’s tenure has been marked by abrupt firings, personality clashes, threats and other forms of dysfunction that have drawn scrutiny from Capitol Hill and continue to be closely monitored by the White House.

Buria has been at the center of much of the turmoil, seeking to isolate Hegseth from other senior advisers on his staff and assert control over the Pentagon’s inner workings, people familiar with the issues have said. A recently retired Marine Corps colonel, he has served as the de facto chief of staff since April, after Hegseth’s initial choice for the job, Joe Kasper, voluntarily departed to return to the corporate world.

Buria’s rapid transition from nonpartisan military officer to political warrior has stunned people who know him and raised questions among some Trump administration officials who remain skeptical of his warm relations with Biden administration appointees in the Pentagon while he served as a junior military aide for then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Hegseth and Buria have clashed repeatedly with top generals and admirals serving in some of the Pentagon’s senior-most positions.

Most recently, the secretary rescinded the planned promotion of Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, whose last day as director of the Joint Staff was last week. The decision, first reported last month by the New York Times, was made despite a direct appeal to Hegseth from Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The director’s job, widely considered one of the military’s most important, is being filled on a temporary basis by Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Stephen Liszewski, people familiar with the matter said. Trump in June nominated Navy Vice Adm. Fred Kacher to replace Sims, and he awaits Senate confirmation.

Hegseth, fixated on trying to stop a succession of embarrassing leaks to the news media, earlier this year threatened to have a polygraph test conducted on Sims, a detail reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal. The secretary’s team did briefly conduct polygraph tests against some Pentagon officials in April and early May, but the effort was stopped at the direction of the White House after Patrick Weaver, a political appointee on Hegseth’s team, complained that Buria wanted him to submit to testing despite Weaver’s history of supporting Trump’s agenda.

Buria also has faced scrutiny alongside Hegseth over the secretary’s use of the unclassified chat app Signal. The Defense Department’s independent inspector general has received evidence that Hegseth’s Signal account in March shared operational details about a forthcoming bombing campaign in Yemen, information taken from a classified email labeled “SECRET/NOFORN.”

That designation means defense officials believed disclosure of the information to the wrong parties could damage national security. Among those who received the information were other top Trump administration officials, but also Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, and personal attorney, Tim Parlatore.

The inspector general’s review is, in part, attempting to establish who posted in those group chats the highly sensitive information shared under Hegseth’s name, people familiar with the matter said. In addition to the defense secretary, Buria had access to Hegseth’s personal phone and sometimes posted information on his behalf, officials have said.

Last week, Hegseth’s team at the Pentagon lashed out at the inspector general’s office in what appeared to be an attempt to undermine the inquiry’s legitimacy even before its findings are made public.

Top Hegseth aide tried to oust senior White House liaison from Pentagon
The unusual dispute received White House intervention and appears rooted in deeper frustrations over failed attempts to fill jobs on Hegseth’s staff.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/08/04/hegseth-buria-white-house-liaison-mcnitt

Newsweek: Trump administration announces major tourist visa change

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The State Department is proposing a rule requiring some business and tourist visa applicants to post a bond of up to $15,000 to enter the United States, a step critics say could put the process out of reach for many.

According to a notice set for publication on Tuesday in the Federal Register, the department plans a 12‑month pilot program targeting applicants from countries with high visa overstay rates and weak internal document security.

Under the plan, applicants could be required to post bonds of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 when applying for a visa.

Why It Matters

This move marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement and revisits a controversial measure briefly introduced during Trump’s first term.

A previous version of the policy was issued in November 2020, but was never fully enacted due to the collapse in global travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. That version targeted about two dozen countries, most of them in Africa, with overstay rates exceeding 10 percent.

What To Know

The new visa bond program will take effect on August 20, according to documents reviewed by Newsweek and a notice previewed Monday on the Federal Register website. The Department of Homeland Security says the goal is to ensure the U.S. government doesn’t incur costs when a visitor violates visa terms.

“Aliens applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure and who are nationals of countries identified by the department as having high visa overstay rates, where screening and vetting information is deemed deficient, or offering citizenship by investment, if the alien obtained citizenship with no residency requirement, may be subject to the pilot program,” it said.

Under the plan, U.S. consular officers can require a bond from visa applicants who meet certain criteria. This includes nationals of countries with high visa overstay rates, countries with deficient screening and vetting, and those that offer citizenship-by-investment programs, particularly where citizenship is granted without a residency requirement.

Visitors subject to the bond will receive it back upon leaving the U.S., naturalizing as a citizen, or in the event of death. If a traveler overstays, however, the bond may be forfeited and used to help cover the costs associated with their removal.

Citizens of countries in the Visa Waiver Program are exempt, and consular officers will retain the discretion to waive the bond on a case-by-case basis.

What Countries Could End Up Being Affected

The U.S. government has not provided an estimate of how many applicants may be affected. However, 2023 data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that countries with particularly high visa overstay rates include Angola, Liberia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cabo Verde, Burkina Faso, and Afghanistan.

The list of affected countries will be published at least 15 days before the program begins and may be updated with similar notice. In the 2020 version of the pilot, countries such as Afghanistan, Angola, Burkina Faso, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Laos, Liberia, Libya, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen were included.

What People Are Saying

The public notice stated: “The Pilot Program will help the Department assess the continued reliance on the untested historical assumption that imposing visa bonds to achieve the foreign policy and national security goals of the United States remains too cumbersome to be practical.”

Andrew Kreighbaum, a journalist covering immigration, posted on X: “It’s getting more expensive for many business and tourist travelers to enter the U.S. On top of new visa integrity fees, the State Department is imposing visa bonds as high as $15,000.”

What Happens Next

Visa bonds have been proposed in the past but have not been implemented. The State Department has traditionally discouraged the requirement because of the cumbersome process of posting and discharging a bond and because of possible misperceptions by the public.

There’s always a country that wants your money — go where you’re wanted and the heck with Amerika!

Trump administration announces major tourist visa change
The State Department says the measure is intended to ensure the government does not incur costs if a visitor violates visa terms.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-admin-visas-tourist-business-major-change-2108642

Esquire: It’s Now Looking Pretty Clear That Pete Hegseth Shared Classified Documents on Signal

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Aides are jumping ship. Morale is heading south. And now his alibi for the security group chats is in pieces.

At least Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is probably not in the Epstein files. Hegseth is in enough trouble of his own. From The Washington Post:

The Pentagon’s independent watchdog has received evidence that messages from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Signal account previewing a U.S. bombing campaign in Yemen were derived from a classified email labeled “SECRET/NOFORN,” people familiar with the matter said. The revelation appears to contradict long-standing claims by the Trump administration that no classified information was divulged in unclassified group chats that critics have called a significant security breach.

Gee, y’know, it really does appear to do that very thing. I may have to sit down for a moment and take this all in.

The scandal has caused numerous Democrats and at least one Republican to call for Hegseth’s firing, and it dogged the defense secretary through a series of congressional hearings in June. Senior administration officials have repeatedly insisted that no classified information was shared on Signal, though national security experts and former top military officials have said that is highly doubtful.

Administration officials doubled down on those claims in new statements to The Washington Post, touting actions in the military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen earlier this year and more recent strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

This comes at a bad time for Hegseth, who seems to be dealing with a low-level uprising at work. Aides are jumping ship. Morale is heading south. And now his alibi for the Signal chats is in pieces. And there is this, from the Los Angeles Times and some remarkably candid National Guard soldiers.

“There’s not much to do,” one Marine said as he stood guard outside the towering Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood this week. The blazing protests that first met federal immigration raids in downtown Los Angeles were nowhere to be seen along Wilshire Boulevard or Veteran Avenue, so many troops passed the time chatting and joking over energy drinks. The Marine, who declined to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said his duties consisted mostly of approving access for federal workers and visitors to the Veterans Affairs office.

Steve Woolford, a resource counselor for GI Rights Hotline, a nonprofit group that provides free, confidential information to service members, said calls from troops had gone down dramatically over the last month. “The most recent people I talked to sounded like they’re sitting around bored without much to do,” Woolford said. “And they’re happy with that: They aren’t asking to do more. At the same time, I don’t think people see a real purpose in what they’re doing at all.”

The deployment was absurd, and the soldiers deployed knew it, and they became more and more aware of the absurdity almost by the hour. Generally, when soldiers feel they’re being used for useless purposes, things do not end well.

When troops were first deployed to LA., advocates for service members warned of low morale. The GI Rights Hotline received a flurry of calls voicing concern about immigration enforcement, Woolford said. Some military personnel told the hotline that they did not want to support ICE or play any role in deporting people because they considered immigrants part of the community or had immigrants in their family, Woolford said. Others said they did not want to point guns at citizens. A few worried that the country was on the verge of turning into something like martial law, and said that they didn’t want to be on the side of being armed occupiers of their own country.

Thus are some members of the National Guard demonstrably possessed of a deeper and more profound democratic conscience than any Republican politician in America. Not everybody in the country has gone daffy. That’s reassuring.

Fire the bum! Get it done & over with!

It’s Now Looking Pretty Clear That Pete Hegseth Shared Classified Documents on Signal
Aides are jumping ship. Morale is heading south. And now his alibi for the security group chats is in pieces.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a65502082/pete-hegseth-national-guard-los-angeles

Daily Mail: Inside the Pentagon, she crossed a line with Pete Hegseth – now she’s out and feeling VERY scorned

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Poor MAGA groupie! No even her cleavage could save her job! 🙁

A pro-MAGA reporter who criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s treatment of the press at the Pentagon lost her job after speaking out.

Gabrielle Cuccia is a proud ‘MAGA girl’ who has long been outspoken about her adoration of President Trump.

But while working as the chief Pentagon correspondent at pro-Trump television channel One America News, Cuccia published a tell-all article to her personal Substack channel about the pitfalls of Hegseth’s leadership.

‘If you want the best case study for the death of the MAGA movement — look no further than the Department of Defense,’ she wrote.

‘People sleep on the Pentagon. They don’t realize what’s been simmering at the bottom for weeks, months, sometimes even years.’

Cuccia had expressed concerns Hegseth was blocking media access in the wake of his Signal scandal, in which a journalist was unintentionally added to a group chat with Hegseth where he openly shared sensitive details about an impending strike on Houthi targets in Yemen. 

From that moment onwards, Cuccia said Hegseth shut down crucial communication points between the press and his staff in an effort to ‘reduce the opportunity for in-person inadvertent or unauthorized disclosures.’

‘Think of every time you hear a journalist reference a source as “Defense Official” or something abstract… a lot of times, it’s coming from these guys,’ she revealed about the Pentagon press office.

‘And they are always there to provide additional context, field questions, and relay the reality of ops in an unclassified manner.’

Her article was published on Monday. By Thursday, her boss had asked her to hand in her Pentagon access badge, and on Friday she was fired, she told CNN.

Cuccia criticized Hegseth for his lack of transparency, noting he had failed to deliver press conferences and alleged his team would deliberately hide details of his schedule until it was too late for media representatives to attend.

‘Over at the White House, the Administration understands the freedom of the press, and keeps the door open anyway,’ she said. ‘They would certainly not field questions *before* said press briefing.’

Cuccia alleged that during one press briefing, staff for Hegseth reached out to her to find out what question she would ask if she were called upon at a conference.

She told them, thinking they simply ‘wanted to be prepared for their very first press briefing to answer questions with as much info in response as possible. Unfortunately that was not the case.’

‘This article isn’t to serve as a tearing down of the SecDef,’ she wrote. ‘This is me wanting to keep MAGA alive.

‘Despite my loyalty to this movement, we are killing ourselves.’

Cuccia said the power of the MAGA movement was sparked in 2015, when ‘America came alive’ on the back of a ‘shared realization we weren’t going to blindly accept our government as Bible anymore.’

Since then, she said there has been a pointed shift away from the core values of the movement.

‘Somewhere along the way, we as a collective decided — if anyone ever questioned a policy or person within the MAGA movement — that they weren’t MAGA enough.

‘I will always be MAGA, but consider this a love letter to what we have lost, what we must regain, and my final plea to Love Your Country, Not Your Government.’

Cuccia broke her public silence over her axing on Saturday, writing on Instagram: ‘I was once told that a former peer feared I was too MAGA for the job. 

‘I guess I was. I guess I am.’

DailyMail.com has contacted both Cuccia and her former employer for comment. 

Prior to joining OAN, Cuccia served in the White House under Trump from 2017 to 2018.

Inside the Pentagon, she crossed a line with Pete – now she’s SCORNED
Gabrielle Cuccia is a proud ‘MAGA girl’ who has long been outspoken about her adoration of President Trump.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14768897/pentagon-reporter-maga-girl-gabrielle-cuccia-pete-hegseth.html

Daily Mail: Pete Hegseth hit by deeply embarrassing allegations as leaked letter calling for his removal rips through the Pentagon

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An effort is under way among some Pentagon officials to denounce Pete Hegseth as unfit to serve as Defense Secretary, DailyMail.com can reveal. 

Since May, drafts of a letter have been circulating among high and mid-level military brass and civilian workers to ‘Let the American public know this guy has no clue what he’s doing,’ one of them told DailyMail.com.

Sean Parnell, the department’s chief spokesman, came to his boss’ defense characterizing the letter as ‘palace intrigue’ or ‘sensationalized mainstream media gossip’ that he said Americans ‘don’t care about.’

‘They care about action,’ reads his statement.

Three Pentagon officials — two military and one civilian, and each with at least 20 years in the department — spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

Aside from losing their jobs, they fear prosecution by Donald Trump‘s administration, and being replaced by people with less experience who would be less apt to challenge some of Hegseth’s decisions.

Each said the letter calling for his ouster won’t be made public until next week at the earliest. 

They described its contents in the meantime – with complaints ranging from politicized decision-making to department-wide dysfunction, low morale, and a climate of paranoia driven by what they describe as Hegseth’s obsession with rooting out dissent.

They also pointed to his preoccupation with optics, citing his installation of a makeup studio inside the Pentagon, his staged photo ops lifting weights with the troops, and his new grooming and shaving policy for servicemen. 

‘He has branded himself the epitome of his so-called ‘warrior ethos’ that he’s always talking about,’ one insider said, adding that Hegseth appears to be reshaping the military into ‘a cross between a sweat lodge and WWE.’ 

They said the letter decries the Defense Secretary for issuing orders and setting policies without considering — or even hearing — input from intelligence, security and legal advisors.

As all three insiders told us, the letter also cites dysfunction and chaos in the department due to what they said are Hegseth’s inattention to, indecision on, and inconsistencies regarding several military matters, big and small.  

Those include defining the role the U.S. military should play in space and setting a realistic timeline for building the ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system, a top military goal for Trump. 

They also include clarifying the channels by which Pentagon personnel should and should not communicate with each other. 

One insider said Hegseth’s top aides are clamping down on contact between workers, even when there’s no security, professional or ethical reason to do so.

The insiders described what they perceive as Hegseth’s extreme distrust of the military and civilian personnel who work in the Pentagon, especially senior staffers who speak out when best practices are sidestepped or institutional memory ignored. 

They said Hegseth’s preoccupation with sussing out leakers and critics in the department has caused bureaucratic logjams, brought some basic, but essential military business to a standstill and triggered a sense of paranoia throughout the building.

One of the officials said that some Pentagon personnel feel pressured to attend the Christian prayer services Hegseth has arranged during work hours, even though they’re supposed to be optional.

Two spoke of disdain among many Defense officials about the Secretary’s preoccupation with optics — token gestures they said have little to do with defense. 

They cited the makeup studio the former Fox News personality and fitness buff had installed at the Pentagon and his insistence on being photographed lifting weights and doing push ups with troops.

‘Sure, he wants everyone as fit as he is. But he also wants everyone noticing how he looks,’ an insider said.

Aside from Hegseth’s review of fitness standards, he also has focused on military grooming, including specific instructions on how members should shave. 

Under his new policy, soldiers with a skin condition that causes razor bumps and affects mainly Black men could be discharged from service.

One insider pointed to current tensions in Europe and Asia, and full-out war spanning from the north to the south of the Middle East, and said: ‘With everything that’s happening in the world, he’s choosing to focus on razor bumps. Seriously?’ 

One also cited last month’s mobilization of about 4,000 National Guard troops in response to protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles as an example of Hegseth ignoring his department’s advice.  

‘Nobody in the building thought that was a wise idea,’ one of the insiders said.

Few in the Pentagon also support Hegseth’s efforts to undo diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and eradicate what he calls ‘wokeness’ in the military by restoring the names of military bases that had previously honored Confederate generals.

That insider said Hegseth’s repeated criticism of diversity policies has led to ‘far more’ racist incidents than before the Secretary took office.

He noted that Hegseth’s anti-wokeness agenda also has prompted suspicions among many non-white service members and DOD staffers that their job performance is being scrutinized more closely than those of their white colleagues.

‘Some people are being looked at as if they don’t deserve their positions,’ he said. ‘The effect that has on productivity can’t be overstated.’ 

Parnell, the Pentagon spokesman, credits Hegseth with ‘record-high’ recruiting numbers, European allies’ agreement to meet Trump’s 5% defense spending target, and what he called the ‘flawless success’ of the U.S. bombing Iranian nuclear sites on June 22.

‘Secretary Hegseth has successfully reoriented the Department of Defense to put the interests of America’s Warfighters and America’s taxpayers first, and it has never been better positioned to execute on its mission than it is today,’ his statement reads. 

‘The DoD’s historic accomplishments thus far are proof of Secretary Hegseth’s bold leadership and commitment to the American people and our men and women in uniform.’

The three Pentagon officials we spoke with told us that a small group of their colleagues — including officers from all military branches except for the Coast Guard — and some civilian workers met at a private home in May to discuss how to get the word out about what they view as Hegseth’s incompetence. 

They agreed the message would be stronger coming from current rather than retired DOD personnel.

Attendees jointly decided to give themselves a few months to agree on the wording of a joint letter that they would either send to the news media, run as an ad in a major newspaper or launch online via social media or a newly created web site. 

They set a deadline for mid-July — this week — to finalize the letter so it could be made public by next Friday, the 25th, which marks Hegseth’s half-year in office.

The letter is written but, as the planned launch date nears, organizers are undecided about whether it should be signed only by the few people willing to jeopardize their careers, or if there’s a way to organize broader engagement throughout the military by protecting signers’ identities.

The group is in discussion with a public relations advisor, tech consultant and community organizers in hopes of finding a way to broadcast their complaints far and wide throughout the U.S. while limiting the risk of retaliation.

‘We need to believe it’s possible,’ one of the officials told us, adding that a solution, if one exists, may not be feasible before next week.

The effort comes after Hegseth — a former Army National Guard officer who had limited experience running large, complicated organizations — got off to a bumpy start leading the country’s biggest bureaucracy.

During his confirmation process, critics raised concerns about his treatment of women and issues with alcohol. 

Three Republican senators, including Mitch McConnell, voted against his appointment, and Vice President J.D. Vance cast a tie-breaking vote.

Less than two months into his tenure as defense secretary, a group of national security leaders discussed a planned military strike against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen on a group chat using a nonsecure group chat on Signal that accidentally included the editor of The Atlantic magazine.

The ‘Signalgate’ scandal caused two of Hegseth’s top aides and the chief of staff to the deputy defense secretary to be booted from the Pentagon. Trump ultimately fired National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, who organized the chat. 

Meanwhile, several outlets reported that Hegseth shared sensitive information about the attack in a second Signal text chain with his brother, lawyer and wife.

Trump, at least outwardly, has been steadfast in supporting Hegseth, who arranged for the military parade the president long had wanted, but was denied by Pentagon officials in his first term in office. 

Hegseth also embraces Trump’s ‘America First’ ideas.

The Secretary’s willingness to carry out Trump’s isolationist goals was starkly clear this week when he abruptly pulled about a dozen high-ranking military speakers from the Aspen Security Forum. 

The four-day summit in Colorado has for years drawn officials from Republican and Democratic administrations to publicly share ideas with the world’s leading national security and foreign policy experts.

In a statement to Just the News, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson derided the event for promoting ‘the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States.’

One attendee of the conference told DailyMail.com last Thursday that the Defense Department’s absence from the event is a ‘worrisome sign’ that Hegseth is sealing the military off from outside opinions and potentially helpful input.

Another called the cancellation ‘boneheaded.’

So by 25 July we should have a palace coup? Let’s roll!

Pete Hegseth hit by embarassing allegations in leaked letter
An effort is under way among some Pentagon officials to denounce Pete Hegseth as unfit to serve as Defense Secretary, DailyMail.com can reveal.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14925677/inside-revolt-pentagon-Pete-Hegseth-letter-defense-secretary-ouster.html

Alternet: Trump just broke the law — again

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After the United States bombed Iran’s three nuclear facilities on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said its objective was a “stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror”.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed this justification, saying:

The president authorised a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interest posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self-defenze of our troops and our ally Israel.

Is this a legitimate justification for a state to launch an attack on another?

I believe, looking at the evidence, it is not.

Under the UN Charter, there are two ways in which a state can lawfully use force against another state:

・the UN Security Council authorizes force in exceptional circumstances to restore or maintain international peace and security under Chapter 7

・the right of self defense when a state is attacked by another, as outlined in Article 51.

On the first point, there was no UN Security Council authorization for either Israel or the US to launch an attack on Iran to maintain international peace and security. The security council has long been concerned about Iran’s nuclear program and adopted a series of resolutions related to it. However, none of those resolutions authorized the use of military force.

With regard to self defence, this right is activated if there is an armed attack against a nation. And there’s no evidence of any recent Iranian attacks on the US.

Trump just broke the law — again

https://www.alternet.org/trump-international-courts

New York Post: Trump admin diverted 20,000 anti-drone missiles it promised to Ukraine and sent them to US troops, Zelensky says

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Trump administration diverted 20,000 anti-drone missiles originally meant for Kyiv to American forces in the Middle East.

Zelensky revealed Sunday that he had secured a deal for the missiles under the Biden administration to counterattack Moscow’s deadly, Iranian-designed Shahed drones, which have been at the center of Russia’s mass bombardment campaign.

“We have big problems with Shaheds,” Zelensky told ABC News’ “This Week.” “We counted on this project — 20,000 missiles. Anti-Shahed missiles. It was not expensive, but it’s a special technology.”

The diversion of the weapons was first reported by the Wall Street Journal last week, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly issuing an “urgent” call to redirect the weapons on June 4 away from Ukraine.

The drunk O-3 strickes again!

Trump admin diverted 20,000 anti-drone missiles it promised to Ukraine and sent them to US troops, Zelensky says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the Trump administration diverted 20,000 anti-drone missiles originally meant for Kyiv to American forces in the Middle East.

https://nypost.com/2025/06/08/world-news/trump-diverted-20000-anti-drone-missiles-from-ukraine-to-us-troops-zelensky