On protecting classified information, Pete Hegseth picks a fight he can't win
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth covered a fair amount of ground in his latest interview with his former Fox News colleague, Will Cain, and the beleaguered Pentagon chief acknowledged that he's received a lot of criticism since joining the White House Cabinet. In fact, he even suggested he should 'get a medal' because journalists have reported on his many failures.
But of particular interest were his comments about the one criticism that apparently bothers him.
'There's a reason why our nation's most closely held secrets are contained in certain places with only access from certain people,' the former Fox News personality said. 'Nobody takes that more seriously than me.
'If there's one thing I've sort of been offended by — I don't get offended by much; I'm here to do my job for the president, for the country — is this idea that I don't take classification or I don't take clearances seriously. Nobody takes it more seriously than me.'
I can appreciate why Hegseth is eager to defend himself, especially on a network his boss watches, but all things considered, this was a subject he probably should've avoided.
By now, the basic elements of the 'Signalgate' controversy are probably familiar: Top members of Donald Trump's national security team participated in an unsecured group chat about sensitive operational details of a foreign military strike — and they accidentally included a journalist, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, in their online conversation.
The final paragraph of Goldberg's piece on the fiasco read, 'All along, members of the Signal group were aware of the need for secrecy and operations security. In his text detailing aspects of the forthcoming attack on Houthi targets, Hegseth wrote to the group — which, at the time, included me — 'We are currently clean on OPSEC.''
'OPSEC' refers to 'operations security.' In other words, the defense secretary was certain that he and his colleagues — while chatting on a free platform that has never been approved for chats about national security or classified intelligence — had locked everything down and created a secure channel of communication.
Of course, we now know that Team Trump was most certainly not 'clean on OPSEC,' Hegseth's embarrassing boast notwithstanding.
What's more, while there was some discussion of whether their discussion included classified information, there's no denying the chat did include highly sensitive information about times and targets, much of which was put there by Hegseth himself.
'1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package),' Hegseth told his colleagues in the chat. '1345: 'Trigger Based' F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME) — also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s).' At one point, the defense secretary literally wrote, 'THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP.'
As brutal as those revelations were, they were soon followed by a series of related controversies. The Wall Street Journal reported in late March, for example, that Hegseth brought his wife — who does not have a security clearance — 'to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed.'
The Journal also reported that Hegseth used the Signal messaging app for official Pentagon business more extensively than had been previously disclosed, 'engaging in at least a dozen separate chats.'
Then, a few weeks ago, the Journal also reported that the Pentagon inspector general was investigating Hegseth's "sharing of military plans to a second Signal chat that included his wife and brother.'
It was against this backdrop that Hegseth told a national television audience that 'nobody' takes the protection of classified information 'more seriously' than he does. Among the many unsettling angles to this incident: The defense secretary managed to deliver the line with a straight face.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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