In the days before Pete Hegseth stepped onstage to address the hundreds of generals and admirals he summoned for a mysterious meeting outside Washington, D.C., officials at the Pentagon joked that the defense secretary could have saved a lot of time and money by making his remarks via email instead. They were silent as Trump derided “Sleepy Joe Biden” and the “corrupt press.” They appeared uncomfortable when Trump talked about sending U.S. troops to Chicago and Portland to wage “the war within.” There were light chuckles when the president talked about how he liked his own signature, how he hadn’t asked for the latest fighter jet to be named F-47, and when he said that he loved “tariffs.” Hegseth, who is the subject of a soon-to-be-released investigation by the Pentagon’s inspector general over his sharing of attack plans on a Signal chat that inadvertently included The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, said that he would reform the IG process because, as he saw it, official investigations had “been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues, and poor performers in the driver’s seat.” He also announced measures to alter promotion and disciplinary processes, providing greater leeway for troops accused of wrongdoing.
Author: Nancy A. Youssef, Missy Ryan
Published at: 2025-09-30 22:45:00
Still want to read the full version? Full article
