Pete Hegseth’s paranoia is undermining the Pentagon

Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon is hemorrhaging senior officials faster than the Justice Department’s resignation tsunami last month, when seven federal prosecutors quit over the acting Deputy Attorney General’s quid pro quo scheme to dismiss corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams in exchange for his cooperation with the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. So if you’re having trouble following the leak labyrinth at home, you’re not alone.

Three Pentagon officials were recently put on administrative leave – and then fired – pursuant a leak investigation ( “Leak Investigation 2”) into the reporting of military plans for the Panama Canal, a second carrier en route to the Red Sea, Elon Musk’s planned field trip to the Pentagon for a military briefing on China or a pause in the collection of intelligence for Ukraine. We don’t really know. Remarkably, however, the massive operational security failure dubbed “Signalgate” – when National Security Advisor Mike Waltz unwittingly invited the editor of The Atlantic into an encrypted-but-unsecured chat where Walz, Hegseth, and other principals discussed real-time U.S. airstrikes on Yemen – does not seem to be among the possibilities. (Signalgate is part of an earlier-launched, separate Pentagon Inspector General investigation into whether Hegseth shared classified information with other senior national security leaders across the executive branch over an encrypted, but unclassified, commercial messaging app, “Leak Investigation 1”.)

This uncertainty stemming from why the three high-level Defense Department political appointees were put on leave and then fired prompted chatter that they were being unfairly targeted or treated as sacrificial lambs for others in Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s office. Like the Justice Department mass resignations in early March, the ousted Defense Department trio did not go quietly. Former senior advisor Dan Caldwell, former deputy chief-of-staff Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll, the deputy Defense secretary’s former chief of staff issued a joint statement on X (an unconventional medium for such things, but one that Trump and Musk were sure to see):

“[u]nnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door . . . we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it. At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with.”

If it exists, that would be “Leak Investigation 2.”

“There’s just a lot of tension, there’s a lot of bad blood,” one Pentagon source told Politico of the current mood at the Pentagon. “There is a complete meltdown in the building,” said another. At least one former top aide to Hegseth has gone public with complaints about his leadership. “It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership,” wrote former Defense spokesperson John Ullyot. Hegseth, for his part, “is in full paranoia, back-against-the-wall mode,” according to CNN.

Now we learn that Hegseth shared the same highly sensitive, detailed attack plans about the pending Yemen strikes in yet another Signal group text chat – on his private personal phone – that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer. Many were not even government employees and none of them had a “need to know” – one of the most fundamental security principles imposed on authorized holders of classified or other sensitive military information. And this chat occurred before his confirmation as Secretary of Defense – something that would have likely sunk his nomination more than his boozy and misogynistic past. This may or may not be part of a new leak investigation (“Leak Investigation 3”). Or it may be wrapped into one or both of the others.

Now Senator Adam Schiff, D-CA, has requested that the National Archives and Records Administration investigate the Trump administration’s use of Signal, Gmail, and other non-government messaging applications to discuss sensitive national security matters in violation of federal laws that require preservation of records. Let’s call that “Leak Investigation 4”.

As someone who was criminally investigated for leaking, and now defends current and former national security whistleblowers in leak investigations, all of this is highly irregular. Average leak investigations by Offices of Inspectors General take from 90 days to a couple of years. Agents typically interview witnesses as well as the subject or target. Sometimes these interviews are voluntary and other times they are compelled. Federal employees are generally expected to participate in internal investigations that are administrative, but if the investigation could have criminal implications, the target(s) maintain their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and they don’t have to cooperate. In that case, before an interview, the investigator would have to provide the employee with a written warning.

Maybe Caldwell, Selnick and Carrol were trying to get in front of the various leak investigations, but if there is even a smidgen of a chance they could be under a federal criminal investigation – and potentially referred for prosecution – they should lawyer up and not say another word, and especially not try to litigate the case on a toxic,Trump-friendly agitprop platform like X. I have warned about exactly this scenario.

Leak Investigation 1 appears to have stemmed from mistake, inadvertency and laziness. Leak Investigation 2 appears to be retaliatory. If there’s a Leak Investigation 3 (which there should be), it’s because Hegseth – who’s dangerously out of his depth – needed to assuage his insecurities by dick-waving in front of his wife, brother, two of those fired in the wake of Leak Investigation 2, and upwards of ten personal and professional aides in total. It’s unclear whether Leak Investigation 1 uncovered what appears to be Leak Investigation 3.

Whistleblowers and sources I represent have been smeared, ruined professionally, terminated, criminally investigated, prosecuted and jailed for far less serious disclosures, and ones that were in the public interest to boot. Just ask Air Force whistleblowers Reality Winner and Daniel Hale; NSA whistleblowers Thomas Drake and Edward Snowden; and CIA whistleblowers Jeffrey Sterling, John Kiriakou, and Christopher Aaron. Both Hegseth and Trump are already aligned in their attacks on those whom they dismiss as “disgruntled employees.” With classic Trumpian projection and zero self-awareness, Hegseth is now blaming “leakers” for the Signal group chat fiasco.

While I’ve long decried the two-tier system of justice for leaks by the politically powerful versus career public servants, the Hegseth case is beyond the pale. Anything short of firing Hegseth makes a complete and utter mockery of national security, the classification system and the lives of those who serve in the government and military. Trump is standing behind the tipsy, drippy, chauvinisty Hegseth, but I’d be very, very nervous if I was “Leaky Petey.”