The report from the Pentagon’s Inspector General’s investigation into Signalgate, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s transmission of the details of a U.S. military option in Yemen to a group on Signal—including, by mistake, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg—have now been released to the American public. The only response Hegseth gave to the IG team was a snippy letter, included in the report, in which the secretary claimed that he had the right to do what he did, that he did not reveal any classified information, and that his predecessor, Lloyd Austin, kept a personal cellphone with him. Instead of showing leadership and accepting responsibility for a mistake that could have been a lethal blunder, instead of stepping forward and admitting his error, instead of cooperating and helping improve Pentagon security, Hegseth hid behind his desk and said that he had the legal right to do something stupid and dangerous, as if that made his actions any less stupid and dangerous.
Author: Tom Nichols
Published at: 2025-12-04 22:24:09
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