"Perhaps the Pentagon chief's reluctance to speak to the press is just as well, because many Americans would be alarmed to realize that their sons and daughters in combat are being overseen by a person as callous as Pete Hegseth. This morning, the defense secretary gave a briefing on the war that quickly degenerated into Trumplike bombast."
"Hegseth apparently prefers to sound more like a Call of Duty player leading a raid than a sober and judicious secretary of defense: 'Death and destruction from the sky all day,' he said, along with other empty phrases such as 'We're playing for keeps.' (As opposed to what, exactly?)"
"On Sunday morning (local time), an Iranian drone hit a makeshift operations center in Kuwait. The Pentagon says that six Americans are dead. Not only is this event a tragedy, but it also requires an explanation: The drone reportedly snuck through U.S. defenses without setting off any alerts, and struck a target that now seems to have been unduly vulnerable to aerial attack."
The United States is engaged in military conflict, yet Americans receive minimal official communication about war goals and casualties beyond presidential videos and occasional official statements. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has held few briefings and demonstrates a concerning approach to his role. During a recent briefing, Hegseth employed inflammatory language reminiscent of video game commentary rather than measured defense leadership. Most troublingly, when six American service members were killed by an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait—an incident requiring explanation regarding how the drone penetrated U.S. defenses—Hegseth cynically weaponized these deaths to air personal grievances with the press rather than addressing legitimate questions about military vulnerability and transparency.
#military-leadership #government-transparency #defense-secretary #war-communication #pentagon-accountability
Read at The Atlantic
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