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Pete Hegseth has already displayed a predictable lack of competence in his role as defense secretary, but it’s not just a sloppy use of Signal chats that has forced the White House to do damage control on his behalf. According to a Tuesday report from Reuters, early in his tenure Hegseth cancelled military aid to Ukraine without a direct order from President Donald Trump.
The pause, which Hegseth ordered just days after Trump was sworn in, led the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) to ground 11 flights moving weapons and artillery to Ukraine. According to Reuters, when Ukrainian and Polish officials reached out to the White House to ask what was going on, officials in the Pentagon, State Department, and the president’s office caught unaware that any such pause had been ordered.
Records reviewed by Reuters showed that Hegseth had given a verbal order to halt the weapons shipments shortly after attending an Oval Office meeting where cutting military aid to Ukraine was discussed — but not ordered. The order was quickly reversed, and until now the incident was effectively hushed away.
The White House claimed that Hegseth had followed a directive from Trump aligned with the administration’s policy towards Ukraine at that time, but other sources who spoke to Reuters and were aware of the events as they unfolded said U.S. National Security Officials and others who would typically be involved in such a decision had no idea the order had been made.
It’s another instance in which sloppy communication problems — either in excess or absence — have caused embarrassment to the defense secretary and the administration. Hegseth was already in hot water after revelations that he shared sensitive attack plans against Houthi rebels in Yemen in two Signal group chats. According to a Monday report from The Wall Street Journal, Hegseth has used Signal — which is only approved for extremely limited, unclassified communication use by the Pentagon — much more extensively than previously known.
Sources who spoke to the WSJ say the defense secretary has made over a dozen Signal chats to discuss all manner of DOD policy and issues with relevant parties — including representatives from foreign governments and partner nations. According to the sources, Hegseth has used Signal to discuss potentially sensitive information both on his personal phone, and on unsecure lines in the Pentagon. In other instances, it’s Marine Col. Ricky Buria — a Hegseth aide — who posts information onto Hegseth’s Signal chats on his behalf. Buria was, according to sources, the individual who posed air strike plans against the Houthis in a chat with Hegseth’s wife and brother.
The Department of Defense has invested vast fortunes in the creation of secure internal and external communications networks to protect against intentional and inadvertent leaks, or outright hacking and espionage. Hegseth, however, seems to prefer the convenience of a third-party application. Aides and others the secretary messages via Signal told the WSJ that they’re sometimes forced to go away from their desks and hunt for a place within the Pentagon where they get enough cell service to respond on the application.
The Pentagon will continue to exist in a state of uncertainty so long as Hegseth is at its helm. On Monday, the defense secretary ordered that the number of four-star generals and admirals in the military be cut by 20 percent across the board.
“Secretary Hegseth has shown an eagerness to dismiss military leaders without cause, and I will be skeptical of the rationale for these plans until he explains them before the Armed Services Committee,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told NBC News.
Trump has repeatedly insisted he’s sticking by Hegseth, despite all of the controversy. He told The Atlantic recently that he’s spoken to Hegseth about his issues, and that he’s confident the man he put in charge of the United States military will “get it toegether.”
