Slippery Pete Hegseth and the Houthi PC small working group
The Man and the Officials Who Know too Little
Slippery Pete Hegseth at Work
The complete arrogance, incompetence and foolishness of President Trump’s National Security Team is beyond compare. Never before in my life, including nearly 40 years in the military, 37 of which were as an officer in the Army and Navy could I imagine that the most senior members of the National Security team could be so damned careless, stupid, and careless as to discuss the timing and details of a planned military operation on a non-military, non-government and less than completely secure text network. But it happened. Apart from Pete Hegseth, the woefully inadequate and unqualified Secretary of Defense, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State and a former Senator, and possibly former Lance Corporal Vance, who briefly served as a Senator, most of the members of this “team of fools” have never held a security clearance of any kind and were not required to have a background check completed by the FBI when appointed to their lofty positions.
When questioned by reporters Hegseth immediately blamed Goldberg rather than taking any personal responsibility. Michael Waltz took responsibility for including Goldberg, but during the text meeting Hegseth said that the OPSEC or (Operational Security) for the meeting was clean, which in addition to the chat being on a service not cleared for classified information means that the list of invitees was not adequately vetted.
Their woeful lack of experience and ability in their positions was put on full display when they invited the editor of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, into a discussion of an upcoming discussion about an attack on the Houthi rebel military in Yemen on the Signal messaging app. At first Goldberg that it was a joke, prank, or that he was being spoofed, so he ignored it. Then he received another text about it and was let into the meeting which was held only hours before the attack. What he reported in his account in the Atlantic contained none of the operational details of the operation but did record the remarks of the participants including the emojis that they used. I include the link Goldberg’s article below because it is worth reading and there is no way that I can fully tell the story as well he did.
An interview with Goldberg by David A. Graham added more detail:
But here are some of the texts:
Here is a guide to the players in the text, though all or not show in the images. Pete Hegseth is the Secretary of Defense, MAR is Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, Michael Waltz is the National Security Advisor, S M is most likely Stephen Miller who when Vance briefly mentioned his concerns put Vance in his place saying that “the president wanted it”, after which Vance clicked his heels and gave his best verbal “Der Führer Befehl wir folgen” and Seig Heil!
John Ratcliffe is the Director of the CIA. Other members of the group included the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, the President’s Counsel Susie Wiles, and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East. Waltz was the one who according to him, inadvertently invited Goldberg to the text group.
Trump’s Cabinet is an unrivaled collection of sewer clowns, however I hate to insult clowns in such a manner, so my apologies.
In my military service I became privy to information above my clearance, but I never shared anything, and what I know, I will take to the grave unless it has been declassified by the appropriate authorities, and even then, only as people have a need to know on a very limited basis. That is something that ALL people who have access to classified information must follow because it is the law, something until the Presidency’s of Donald Trump used to be observed as a matter of principle. But Trump and his people ignore the law as a matter of principle.
That is all for tonight. The past couple of nights I was continuing to grade Holocaust papers and tests, and entering all of my students grades, which getting started on the work for my current doctoral course.
So until next time, be safe and watch your six.
First things first: I salute your service to my country, Steven. The military is a demanding career and few of us are up the challenge. Thank you, again, for your fine essay. 🤝
BLUF (bottom-line up-front): keep in mind that Mr Goldberg, the fake news hoax-meister, was the only one prudent with delicate national security information. 🥳
https://www.instagram.com/senduckworth/reel/DHocUxLJG7s/ (A disabled veteran weighs in.💡)
One thing I do wonder is why General Haugh (Chief Executive of the National Security Agency) and Lieutenant General Kruse (Defense Intelligence Agency), nor any active duty military (from what I can see), were in this chat that involved military planning and execution. I think we all have an intuition: these men would have shut down this chat immediately. 🛑
https://youtu.be/hSZ5KgObruU (Ten minute analysis by one analyst whom I trust.😉)
UGGGGly, Steven. When, as a civilian, I went out into the red zone two or three times a week back in 2004-05, I sure am glad Hegseth was not the convoy leader. After the initial jollies of reading 'classified' info on the secure inter-net / e-mail, I stuck only to finding out rally-points and times. Those data should be secret and need-to-know. 🤫
https://www.tiktok.com/@thedailyshow/video/7485577648945597739 (The mistake explained.🤭)
Had Hegseth been in charge, I may not be around to gnash my teethe; thank G-D our brave pilots were not killed over Yemen. And to think NitWitkoff was in Moscow. No military and a useful idiot in Moscow in the chat; hmmm, I wonder if Putrid was let in on all the fun. More sobering is the possibility that signal-chats about Ukraine took place. 🤢
This is too unforgivable!