Vice President JD Vance has been questioning the Defense Department’s portrayal of the Iran war behind the scenes, according to a new report.
Two senior administration officials told The Atlantic that Vance has cast doubt on the accuracy of information about the war provided by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but sources say he has tried to be careful about expressing those concerns.
"Vance is trying, the advisers suggested, to avoid making this personal, or to create divisions in Trump’s war Cabinet," the magazine reported. "Some of Vance’s confidantes, however, believe that Hegseth’s portrayal has been so positive as to be misleading."
The vice president said in a statement that Hegseth “is doing a great job" to instill a “warrior ethos” in the U.S. military, while a White House official told the publication that Vance “asks a lot of probing questions about our strategic planning, as do all of the members of the president’s national-security team," but several sources said he has expressed concerns to President Donald Trump about the availability of certain missile systems.
"Officials and outside advisers told us that the use of key weapons — including interceptors that defend against Iranian missiles, and offensive weapons such as Tomahawk and Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff missiles — has produced a serious shortage that erodes America’s ability to fight future wars, despite an effort to quickly manufacture replacements," The Atlantic reported. "Vance has raised concern about munitions shortages in meetings with the president and other national-security officials."
Officials and outside advisers said the U.S. had already used up much of its stockpile of interceptors and missiles in three months of operations in Iran and created a serious shortage that would hinder potential conflicts in the future, and they said Vance has brought up his concerns about munitions shortages to the president and other national-security officials.
"Vance and Hegseth both have a major stake in the war’s outcome," The Atlantic reported. "Several people close to Trump believe Vance now sees his political future as tied to what happens in Iran, one of the senior officials told us. Other officials and individuals familiar with those involved told us Hegseth harbors his own ambitions for elected office, even possibly for president."
"Hegseth’s career depends on retaining the president’s support at all costs," the report added. "His confirmation process was ugly, and some of his actions during his first few months on the job exasperated the White House ... White House officials told us that he and the president remain tight. Hegseth has fewer fans among congressional Republicans than many other Cabinet secretaries, leaving him singularly reliant on Trump’s favor. Hegseth 'strives to tell the president exactly what he wants to hear,' one former official told us. 'I think that’s dangerous.'”