Kaboom Bust
The hubris has been lethal. So have the friendly fire firings, departures, leaks, and generalized anxiety among generals that have ricocheted throughout Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon. (Actually, it might be renamed the Quadrilateral because Hegseth thinks one of the Pentagon’s sides is too woke.) After repeatedly clashing with Hegseth, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is the latest top official to get his brass out of the administration, but not before issuing a parting shot. “Trump was surprised when Driscoll told him how many generals and other top officers had been fired, pushed out, or passed over for promotion under Hegseth, one of the people said. Driscoll argued that the Army could not transform itself the way it needs to, because of the departure of so many leaders…Hegseth’s purge of the military has been so dramatic that with Driscoll gone, the military’s largest service is left without a top civilian leader, a Senate-confirmed top general, a confirmed Army general in charge of operations, or a confirmed commander of Army troops in Europe.”
+ The loyalty- and anti-woke-based departures and firings are notable. But the constant drumbeat of leaks from those who still have their jobs is even more troubling. The latest “leaked document reveals that the three four-star commanders in charge of U.S. military operations in Europe, the Pacific, and South America, as well as the Navy’s top admiral, all informed Hegseth that because so many of their planes, ships, and other weapons systems have been diverted to the war in Iran, they could no longer perform their tasks if a war broke out in their part of the world.” Fred Kaplan in Slate: The Generals Are Worried. “It is unusual for so many commanders to file such notes all at once in the middle of a combat operation. And it is still more unusual, perhaps unprecedented, for such reports to be filed by these commanders, who have been chosen—or allowed to remain in their top slots—for their loyalty to Donald Trump and Hegseth.”
+ “Many lower-level officers I have spoken with are privately appalled but afraid to challenge what they are seeing. The collective hope seems to be that if they can all just go on as if nothing unusual is occurring, that this time will pass and nothing bad will happen to them — no loss of position, no demotion or forced retirement, no loss of reputation, no removal from a promotion list by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.” Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force in the Biden administration, in the NYT (Gift Article): Military Officers Can’t Look Away From This Any Longer.
+ Leaks on one side. Influencers on the other? WaPo (Gift Article): Pentagon secretly installs military influencers in civilian roles.
+ “Even in less dangerous times, Hegseth’s irresponsible behavior would be a hazard to American national security. The Defense Department is a huge bureaucracy; it requires a leader who understands more than the mechanics of teaching trainees how to do push-ups or how to handle a weapon. Secretaries of defense must grasp the economics of the defense industry, the nature of alliances, congressional politics, the policy process, and dozens of other issues for which Hegseth seems to care little and about which he knows even less. In a time of war, however, Hegseth’s shortcomings may prove deadly.” Tom Nichols in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Hegseth’s Pentagon Lurches off the Rails. “Hegseth was reportedly virtually alone among senior officials in supporting Trump’s decision to attack Iran—when he should have been the one person in the room who knew better.”
+ Meanwhile… Pete Hegseth is talking about a possible run for president in 2028, sources say. (This dude must have gotten a batch of some seriously laced testosterone.)
