Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Digs Bigger Hole With More Lies

When you are caught with your pants down, and there’s an image of it, it’s best not to deny your pants were down.

Department of Defense Shares Classified War Plan Details With Journalist

For the background to repeated lies by Hegseth, please see Department of Defense Shares Classified War Plan Details With Journalist

The most striking aspect is the MAGA denial and hypocrisy.

Hegseth Loses All Credibility

In a statement Wednesday, Hegseth said, “The Atlantic released the so-called ‘war plans’ and those ‘plans’ include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information.”

And so, since the data is not classified, the Atlantic released more details as I said they should do.

CIA chief John Ratcliffe said “My communications, to be clear, in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”

That’s another blatant lie.

Atlantic Magazine Releases More Signal Texts

The Wall Street Journal reports Atlantic Magazine Releases More Signal Texts Where Hegseth Shared Attack Details

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted plans for the timing and weapons to be used in a military strike against Houthi militants on a nongovernmental group chat at least two hours before the first bombs were scheduled to drop, according to texts published Wednesday by the Atlantic magazine. 

The new messages that were made public by the magazine showed the texts included details about the specific times that F-18s, MQ-9 drones and Tomahawk cruise missiles would be used in the attack and mentions intelligence that an unnamed target of the attacks was at a “known location.”

His texts before the strikes in Yemen, though, included multiple specific details of the looming attack.

In a text entitled “Team Update” on the Signal service, Hegseth wrote that the weather was favorable for the military operation and that “we are a GO for mission launch.”  

The text was posted at 11:44 a.m. E.T. on March 15, about 30 minutes before the first U.S. F-18s warplanes that carried out the strikes took off from a U.S. aircraft carrier.

The defense secretary added that “THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP” at 2:15 p.m. 

Senior Republicans, who have portrayed the text uproar as an unfortunate mistake but not one that would require criminal investigation or resignations, reacted with more concern after the latest revelations.

“The information as published recently appears to me to be of such a sensitive nature that based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classified,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. “If mistakes were made…they should be acknowledged.”

Earlier this month, the Pentagon sent an advisory to all military personnel warning that a “vulnerability” had been identified in Signal and warned against using it for classified information.

Several U.S. military officials said the strike information Hegseth included was secret when he shared it. 

Several U.S. military officials said the strike information Hegseth included was secret when he shared it. The officials didn’t say if any action was taken after the attack by Hegseth to formally declassify some or all of the details.  

Such information would come from Pentagon planning documents for the operation that are classified, said Mick Mulroy, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East in the first Trump administration.

War plans prepared by the Pentagon are in most cases written documents outlining how a force conducts an entire conflict at the strategic level, they said. The military also prepares attack plans ahead of strikes like those conducted in Yemen that lay out in detail how the operation will be conducted, including the weapons, timing and specific units involved.

“Both are classified and highly sensitive,” Mulroy said. “One could actually make the argument that attack plans are more sensitive because they are more detailed and specific on time, place, and manner.”

Lie of the Day

On March 25, 2025, I commented Lie of the Day: Administration Denies Sharing Classified Data With a Journalist

I have a simple suggestion.

Since none of this is classified, my simple suggestion is: The Atlantic should release 100 percent of it, with one name redacted.

Then we will see who said what, whether Hegseth is a liar, and whether Ratcliffe is either a liar (or has a bad memory or was sleeping during the meeting).

To protect the one CIA agent mentioned by name, redact that name.

Bear in mind, the text exchange with The Atlantic included the name of a CIA agent directly involved.

Does anyone in their right mind actually believe this is not classified information.

And the texts were on Signal instead of secure government channels. That’s a massive error ion and of itself.

Yet Hegseth attacks The Atlantic instead of admitting huge mistakes. And CIA chief John Ratcliffe says “My communications, to be clear, in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”

Since this information is now fully confirmed as unclassified, I now support full release of all the data, including names.

Judge a Man by What He Does

Imagine the howls from hypocrites if this happened under Biden. The silence is deafening.

A friend of mine repeatedly says “Judge a man by his enemies”.

I suggest we judge a man by his action, competence, and lies.

Thus, I suggest Hegseth and Ratcliffe be fired for incompetence.

Unfortunately, that seems unlikely because Trump values loyalty far more than competence, even when it comes to national security.