No More Excuses; Pete Hegseth

Pete Hegseth shared war plans over Signal with family and friends. Inside a Pentagon unraveling.

Hey Small Biters,

​There are scandals you expect, and then there are scandals that make you pause and ask: Wait, what? This is the second kind.

Over the past week, a story has unfolded that somehow combines national security, encrypted messaging apps, informal power networks, and a Trump-aligned Defense Secretary treating classified information like casual group gossip. This is the Pete Hegseth scandal — and it’s not just a breach. It’s a breakdown.

Hegseth, appointed by Donald Trump in his second term as Secretary of Defense, reportedly shared sensitive details of military operations — including upcoming airstrikes — with a Signal group chat that included his wife (a former Fox News producer), his brother (a civilian at the Pentagon), and his personal lawyer (who’s also on some kind of unclear payroll). None of them have proper clearance. All of them received classified updates anyway.

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It wasn’t an accident. And it wasn’t the first time.

This group chat was one of several informal digital threads Hegseth used to discuss military decisions outside formal channels. Senior Pentagon officials reportedly warned him. Repeatedly. But he kept doing it. The trust he gave to his personal circle seems to have outweighed the rules, the protocols, and the entire concept of operational security.