April 21, 2025 04:02 PM UTC

NPR: SecDefBro's Days In The Job Are Numbered

• 4 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

An exclusive report from NPR News this afternoon states that embattled Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has reached the terminal phase his Cabinet career, with Donald Trump looking for a replacement:

The White House has begun the process of looking for a new leader at the Pentagon to replace Pete Hegseth, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. This comes as Hegseth is again mired in controversy over sharing military operational details in a group chat.

The defense secretary is under fire after revelations that he shared classified information in a group chat with his wife, brother and lawyer, according to the official…

As of this writing the White House says the story is “fake news,” like they said about never climbing down from the Trump tariffs:

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that there’s an effort to replace Hegseth, posting on X that President Trump “stands strongly” behind him. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump backed Hegseth and said concerns over the Signal chats are a “waste of time.”

Based on experience since she started the job, if you put any stock in anything Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says on a given day, within the next few days you’re likely to lose your shirt. Leavitt is also the unfortunate figure tasked with floating the absurd trial balloon that Hegseth’s transmission of classified war plans through the Signal messaging app were “attack plans” not war plans to defend against the charge that Hegseth was obviously lying. The Signal chat fiasco is also not the only reason why Hegseth is in jeopardy, after top aides were dismissed last week under mysterious circumstances leading to reports this weekend that the entire Department of Defense is in a state of dysfunctional chaos. Today, frequent Trump dissenter GOP Rep. Bob Bacon of Nebraska called for Hegseth to step down:

Rep. Don Bacon, a prominent Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, became the first sitting GOP lawmaker Monday to suggest President Donald Trump should fire Pete Hegseth — calling the chaos at the Pentagon one reason why many Hill Republicans were privately uneasy with the Defense secretary’s nomination in the first place.

“I had concerns from the get-go because Pete Hegseth didn’t have a lot of experience,” Bacon, a former Air Force general who now chairs of the subcommittee on cyber issues, said in an interview. “I like him on Fox. But does he have the experience to lead one of the largest organizations in the world? That’s a concern.”

In a normal administration, Hegseth would have lost his job immediately after “Signalgate” became public, along with others who were on that chat and should have known better like Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The rally by Trump and allies to Hegseth’s defense was more a knee-jerk response than an objective consideration of the situation. Now that it’s clear Hegseth’s disregard for operational security was not a one-off mistake, Hegseth needs to go for the simple reason that the security risk he represents is ongoing. And we now know he leads the DoD with the same skill he conducted his personal life.

Pete Hegseth, narrowly confirmed via a tiebreaking vote by Vice President J.D. Vance, has been in office for 87 days, or 7.9 Scaramuccis.

Place your bets on whether he makes it to nine.