Hegseth's Signal leak is 'raising serious questions' as 'rookie mistakes' pile up: NYT

According to a report from the New York Times, Pete Hegseth's tenure as defense secretary can, at best, be described as a series of "stumbles," with the latest scandal over blurting extraordinary sensitive attack details in an unsecured Signal chatroom possibly being the last straw.

As the Times' Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt reported, that Hegseth "... started his job at the Pentagon determined to out-Trump President Trump, Defense Department officials and aides said," and that has led to nothing but push-back from the president, members of Congress and officials in the Pentagon.

As more and more revelations trickle out on how The Atlantic editor -in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was invited into the Signal chat where high-level administration officials joked and shared details about the surprise attack on Houthi rebels, a great deal of the ire has been directed at Hegseth.

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Retired Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton, who served in the Iraq war explained, "My father was killed in action flying night-trail interdiction over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. And now, you have Hegseth. He has released information that could have directly led to the death of an American fighter pilot.”

The report notes that Hegseth's tenure has been riddled with "rookie mistakes" as Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, recently commented with, national security expert Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute adding, "Secretary Hegseth is trying to figure out where the president’s headed, and to run there ahead of him ... He’s not yet demonstrated that he’s running the department.”

Peter Feaver, a military expert at Duke University suggested the Signal chat bombshell "raises serious questions about how a new accountability standard might apply: How would he [Hegseth] handle a situation like this if it involved one of his subordinates?”

"On Monday, Mr. Hegseth left for Asia, his first trip abroad since a foray to Europe last month in which he was roundly criticized for going further on Ukraine than his boss had at the time." the Times reported. "He posted a video on social media of himself guarded by two female airmen in full combat gear as he boarded the plane at Joint Base Andrews. The show of security was remarkable. Not even the president is guarded that way as he boards Air Force One."

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