Military Leaders Deliver Scorching Rebuke Of Hegseth In Far-Right Newspaper
Military leaders are speaking out against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, panning his widely mocked speech delivered to a captive audience of military brass last month.
The conservative Washington Times, which has consistently backed President Donald Trump and supported the GOP and far-right causes, doesn’t usually publish anything that’s unflattering to the right—until Hegseth.
“It was a massive waste of time. … If he ever had us, he lost us,” a current Army general told the outlet.
Speaking about Hegseth’s leadership style, a senior officer explained, “Mainly what I see from him are not serious things. It’s, ’Why did this service member tweet this?’ Or internal politics and drama. That’s mostly what I see.”
Sources also told the Times that they believe Hegseth is “simultaneously doing deep damage to the military, both from a public relations standpoint and structurally behind the scenes, that may not be fully apparent until months or even years from now.”
Another officer criticized Hegseth, who served as a host on Fox News, for “the theater of it all” since assuming his position, saying his speech was “announced on stage in public in this grandstanding kind of way.”
During the September 30 speech, Hegseth demanded military leaders to ditch their traditional code of ethics, which he called “stupid rules of engagement.”
Instead of adhering to decades-old military codes to reduce violence and casualties, Hegseth said “warfighters” should focus on tactics that would “intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country.”
Taxpayers were forced to foot the bill for the speech—for which Hegseth ordered generals to travel to Washington—instead of using the Pentagon’s existing communications infrastructure.
The speech was also criticized by women veterans, including members of Congress, for his bigoted remarks about women in the armed services.
But the extraordinarily candid comments to the Times represent another controversy in Hegseth’s rocky tenure leading the military. He began under a cloud of allegations of financial impropriety, excessive drinking, and sexual assault, along with concerns about his qualifications—or lack thereof—merely spouting off during frequent Fox appearances.
In addition to executing Trump’s agenda of purging the military of references to racial and gender diversity, Hegseth has recently seen the departure of multiple military officials, most recently Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey, head of U.S. Southern Command.
At the same time, the administration has been criticized for military strikes in South America, purportedly targeting drug traffickers but without any independent verification or congressional oversight.
Before that, several journalists—including for conservative outlets—walked out in protest of new rules that required their reporting to be pre-approved by Hegseth. Even reporters from Hegseth’s former employer, Fox News, voiced concerns about the restrictions.
Hegseth was also infamously involved in a leak of military plans to a reporter in a Signal group chat, and he has since focused on hunting down his own staff for comments critical of deceased bigot Charlie Kirk.
Hegseth and Trump have tried to rebrand the Defense Department as the “Department of War,” but a real name change requires congressional action. So while he still oversees the Department of Defense, those under his command appear to be fed up with his bullshit.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos
