Concerns about Hegseth’s judgment come roaring back after group chat scandal

Ever since news broke on Monday that top Trump officials discussed US military attack plans in a group chat that inadvertently included a journalist, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has projected unflinching confidence.

Ever since news broke on Monday that top Trump officials discussed US military attack plans in a group chat that inadvertently included a journalist, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has projected unflinching confidence. “I know exactly what I’m doing,” Hegseth told reporters Tuesday. By Wednesday, however, other defense officials were increasingly skeptical of that, especially after The Atlantic magazine revealed the details that Hegseth shared in the Signal chat about the pending strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen, including the timing and types of aircraft. “It is safe to say that anybody in uniform would be court-martialed for this,” a defense official told CNN. “My most junior analysts know not to do this.” National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has been criticized for inviting Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg into the chat. And CIA director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, both of whom were on the Signal chat, were grilled over two days of Congressional testimony. But former national security and intelligence officials say it’s Hegseth who looks particularly bad given the level of detail he shared.