Just as the "leak scandal" resurfaced, the US President Trump recently stated that he still supports US Defense Secretary Hegseth.
According to reports, a White House spokesperson said in a program on the 21st local time that Trump "strongly supports" Hegseth, "He has done an excellent job in leading the Pentagon." The spokesperson also said, "The President has absolute trust in Secretary Hegseth. I just talked to him about this this morning, and he supports Hegseth."
The spokesperson also excused Hegseth, saying that the overwhelming criticism against him was because "the entire Pentagon is opposed to the huge changes he is trying to implement."
On the 20th local time, it was reported that on March 15, when the US military carried out an air - strike on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hegseth not only shared the plan to strike the Houthi rebels in a chat group of US national security officials, but also posted a detailed action plan in a private chat group including his wife, brother, and private lawyer, which once again caused an uproar across the United States.
According to sources, before officially taking office as the Defense Secretary, Hegseth created a chat group named "Defense | Team Huddle" on the messaging app Signal in January this year. It included himself and his "inner - circle" people in the Pentagon. This group did not include other cabinet officials of the Trump administration and mainly discussed daily administrative affairs or schedules.
In response to the above news, a Pentagon spokesperson sharply criticized on social media, saying that "certain media outlets are keen on using the complaints of disgruntled former employees as the only source for their so - called stories", and that "media that hate Trump are still obsessed with destroying those who implement the President's agenda." He emphasized that "there was no classified information in any Signal chats."
In addition to the political turmoil caused by the chat - app leak incident, the US Department of Defense has recently launched investigations into several other leak incidents, which have led to personnel upheaval in the Pentagon.
It was reported that since last month, the Pentagon has launched multiple investigations to determine how sensitive information such as the deployment of the second US aircraft carrier to the Red Sea, the US military's proposed military action plan against the Panama Canal, the visit of Musk, the head of the "Department of Government Efficiency", to the Pentagon, and the US suspension of intelligence - gathering for Ukraine was exposed to the media.
The investigation has affected three senior Pentagon officials: Dan Caldwell, a senior advisor to Hegseth; Darrin Cerny, the deputy director of the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and Colin Carroll, the chief of staff of Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg. Sources said that these three senior officials were accused of "unauthorized disclosure of national security information" and were fired on April 18 local time.
It was pointed out that this has made Hegseth lose three important senior advisors. A senior US defense official believes that the situation within the Pentagon is out of control, "There is a complete breakdown in the building, which actually reflects the leadership ability of the Secretary. Hegseth is surrounded by people who don't care about his interests."
