War plan leak demands accountability — starting with Pete Hegseth | Editorial

The texting of sensitive military strike plans by top Trump administration officials not only put service members’ lives at risk but underlined the ongoing safety concerns that come with appointing unqualified apparatchiks to key government posts.

Donald Trump and his posse of incompetents have spent the last few days downplaying the jaw-dropping security breach whereby a journalist was mistakenly invited into a chat on the Signal messaging app. The conversation included 18 administration officials plotting U.S. airstrikes in Yemen earlier this month. The secret plans — shared with the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg — included targets and timing of the attacks.

As usual, Trump took no responsibility and called it a “glitch.” He backed national security adviser Mike Waltz, who added Goldberg to the text chain, saying “he learned his lesson.”

But this is not the time for on-the-job training. Nor was it a minor mistake.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the commercially available messaging software to text a group that included a phone number unknown to him the operational plans — including the exact time fighter jets would take off — hours before a surprise attack on Houthi rebels.

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If the texts had fallen into the wrong hands, the Houthis would have had time to escape or prepare for the attacks, endangering the lives of American pilots.

Hegseth and other administration officials claimed the information on the text chain was not classified. But if advanced military operations are not classified, then what is?

Indeed, an unnamed defense official told CNN the information was highly classified. “Anybody in uniform would be court-martialed for this,” the defense official said.

In a normal government of checks and balances, Congress would hold hearings into the security breach and push for new protocols, so it does not happen again.

But the Republicans so far have repeatedly failed to uphold their sworn oath and instead do whatever Trump wants, Constitution be damned. Even a massive military breach is unlikely to stir up action by GOP officials who place their job security above national security.

The failure of the Republicans in Congress is only overshadowed by their hypocrisy.

Recall the endless hearings, investigations, and tens of millions of dollars spent looking into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server that found nothing, but helped tilt the 2016 presidential election to Trump.

Trump spent much of his campaign that year railing about Clinton’s emails and promising to “lock her up.” Hegseth said Clinton should have gone to jail.

Others on the Signal text chain — which included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — were also critical of Clinton.

Rubio, for example, said that “nobody is above the law.” In a separate controversy in 2019, Ratcliffe said that “mishandling classified information is still a violation of the Espionage Act.”

Trump, of course, was indicted for stealing classified information. So don’t look to him for any sense of duty, honor, or accountability.

At the very least, Waltz, who committed the security breach, should be held responsible.

Even before the texting debacle, Hegseth, a former Fox News host who has faced allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual misconduct, and heavy drinking, had no business running the U.S. Defense Department. He should resign or be fired.

The defense secretary’s shaky couple of months on the job have further demonstrated he is unfit and unqualified.

Hegseth gave away leverage in peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia by telling NATO that a return to the two countries’ pre-2014 borders was “unrealistic.”

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He then ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine — essentially handing two major wins to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin before negotiations began. After backlash from allies, he said everything was on the table.

By then it was clear America’s defense was led by an amateur.

The dysfunction at the Pentagon continued last week after Elon Musk was reportedly going to receive a briefing on U.S. military plans for a potential war with Beijing — never mind that Musk is a government contractor who could use that information to his advantage, or that he has extensive business interests in China.

This is the nonsense the Defense Department is doing to keep the country safe?

Hegseth also came under fire after two federal judges temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s ban on transgender service members. One judge called the policy “soaked in animus,” and accused the U.S. Justice Department of trying to “gaslight” the court by failing to present any data to justify the ban.

Hegseth’s war on diversity will undermine morale and leave military members and the country at greater risk — that is, if his sloppy understanding of national security doesn’t cost any lives first.