Retired Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson had nothing but scathing words on CNN Tuesday morning for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's all-hands speech to generals and admirals who had been called off their assignments from around the world to hear him speak — an event other experts have warned is an unnecessary security risk.
"Haveyou heard anything thatconstitutes a change, or an announcement or areason to be addressing thegroup in the room today?" asked anchor John Berman.
"I think that there'sprobably a lot of generalofficers sitting there right nowmuttering to themselves, I traveled 8,000 miles to hearthis?" said Anderson. "I mean, this isessentially a canned speech thatreally could have been deliveredby anybody in almost any time.But I think that there are someclues that he's leaving aboutrefocusing on homeland securityand taking away perhaps some ofour forward presence inthe strength of our alliancesoverseas. And that reallyconcerns me."
"I mean, that haskept this world safe for 80years," he continued. "I mean, the NATO allianceand the alliances that we havein Japan and Korea have keptthis world relatively safe for along time, and for us to comeoff on that would be a terrible,terrible mistake. And I thinkthat there were probably acouple of clues that he leftthere to that regard.
"Theother thing that he talked aboutwas changing the culture and,you know, talking aboutaccountability andresponsibility. I mean, there'snothing like being lectured to by areserve major aboutthings like that. I mean, theseguys can write books about theirservice and their sacrifice and the bravery that they have shown."
Ultimately, Anderson said, "Ifyou talk about accountability,responsibility, he needs tostart with himself. He shouldhave resigned after the Signalgate disaster. We shared ourclassified secrets on aninsecure line. Every singleperson in that room knows thatthey would have been fired hadthey done the same thing. So, Imean, this is really a sadmoment in our history."
"I thinkthat the speech in what's goingon right now is probably goingto turn into a political rallyfor President Trump, but it'sreally all about trying to getthe military to kowtow to them and their will," Anderson concluded. "Andunfortunately, I think we'regoing to see a lot of that forthe next hour or so."