Hegseth's 'chaotic decisions' are creating concerns about  US 'instability': analyst

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to gather together several hundred senior U.S. generals and admirals at the Marine base Quantico, Virginia next week is raising eyebrows at home and abroad.

In a column for MSNBC, Claire McCaskill, the former Missouri U.S. senator who now serves as an analyst, claimed that Hegseth, a former Fox News personality, has been behind a series of controversial moves that have baffled U.S. allies as well as members of Congress.

As she wrote on Saturday, “The meeting is the latest in a series of chaotic decisions that have come out of the Pentagon since Hegseth took the reins in January. Last week, the Defense Department released a memo stating that journalists covering the agency can no longer gather or report information, even if it is unclassified, without approval from the government.”

Putting all of those together, she claimed the embattled Hegseth is telegraphing “instability” to outside observers.

'In the wake of this latest announcement from the Pentagon, I can tell you that behind closed doors, my former Republican colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee are likely asking themselves, ‘What is going on?’” she wrote.

Citing the expense of the Quantico meeting, she suggested, “... there are possible security issues. Our country’s top military leaders will be in one place at a now highly publicized meeting. That should definitely raise concern.”

“We already have a leader [Donald Trump] who is all over the map when it comes to military matters,” she pointed out before suggesting that retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling was correct when he explained, “other countries around the globe would see this meeting as a ‘bright red light’ — an indicator that something is going on with the U.S. military.”

You can read more here.