Ex-general blows gaping hole into '60 Minutes' defense of embattled Cabinet member

Retired United States Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling took a dim view of an admiral who appeared on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night who defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Speaking with “60 Minutes” personality Norah O’Donnell, who also interviewed Hegseth during the much-criticized segment, Central Command (CENTCOM) head Admiral Brad Cooper defended the embattled Trump appointee who has been accused of blowing through America’s arsenal during the ongoing war on Iran that was supposed to last two weeks.

Asked about the reports of shortages which have infuriated Hegseth, Cooper shot back, “I'm not concerned at all. We're well armed and ready for any contingency."

On MS NOW, Hertling blew a hole in his comments.

“I saw that interview and I would distinguish between his operational competence from the strategic sustainability of the United States,” he told host Stephanie Ruhle.

"Can CENTCOM continue to defend itself? Yes, I have no doubt about that. Has the U.S. burned through a large portion of its missiles? Also, yes. Does that affect other areas of the world, like Asia, Europe, North Korea? Also, yes.”

“Can production capabilities within the United States replace them quickly? The answer is no,” he added.

“So we're seeing a combatant commander talking about his area of operations when the other combatant commanders in the Indo-Pacific and EUCOM and in SOUTHCOM all say that they are depleted and they cannot sustain their contingency operations if asked to do so.”

“So it was a little bit of the voice from CENTCOM without a strategic view from the Department of Defense, which we're not getting very, very much of.”

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