Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth struck a defiant, and, at times, profane tone on April 23 in an address to the Army War College amid mounting criticism of his use of a commercial messaging app to share sensitive information about air strikes with senior Trump administration officials, a journalist at The Atlantic and the secretary’s wife Jennifer.
More: Hegseth shared Yemen attack plans with wife, brother and lawyer: Reports
Hegseth avoided the latest revelation, reported by the New York Times and CNN, about sending his wife advance notice of the March 15 attack by U.S. Navy pilots on Houthi militants in Yemen. He also included his brother and personal lawyer, both Pentagon employees, in the Signal chat, a messaging platform the military does not consider secure for such communication. Hegseth’s wife does not work for the Defense Department. The information, current and former government officials said, was almost certainly classified and would have put pilots at risk if it had been intercepted.
Hegseth denies that the information was sensitive, and President Donald Trump has offered support for his embattled Pentagon chief. Hegseth’s use of Signal is under review by the Pentagon Inspector General.
More: Pete Hegseth warns Pentagon ‘leakers’ might face prosecution
Hegseth acknowledged Wednesday that his first months at the helm of the 3 million-member Department of Defense had been challenging. He said that Trump had warned him when he took the job, “‘Pete, you’re going to have to be tough as shit.’ Boy, he was not kidding on that one.”
At the war college in Carlisle, PA, Hegseth sought to shift the focus from Signal chats to his effort to restore what he calls the “warrior ethos,” rebuild the military and deter adversaries like China.
He was most animated talking about leaving “wokeness and weakness behind.”
His leadership will take a different tack.
No more climate change worship, Hegseth said. No more gender confusion. No more pronouns.
“No more woke bullshit” that undermines commanders, he said.
Profanity is hardly unheard of in the military, even inside the Pentagon. But coarse language is usually uttered privately, behind closed doors. Barnyard epithets did not pepper the prepared speeches of most of Hegseth’s predecessors.
More: Trump aides pledge in court to preserve Signal messages about Yemen attack
Hegseth’s war on political correctness, however, has had mixed results. Recruiting is up, Hegseth said, attributing the rebound to emphasizing “warfighting over wokeness.” He also restored the names of Forts Bragg and Benning, which had been changed by Congress to strip them of names honoring Confederate traitors. They’re now named after soldiers with similar names to the Confederates, who did not fight and kill U.S. troops.
But his effort to ban transgender troops from the military has been stymied by federal courts. An attempt by a Defense Department deputy to erase the history of Jackie Robinson, the Army veteran who broke the Major League color barrier, from the Pentagon website resulted in the deputy’s demotion. Robinson’s legacy was restored.
More: Two Hegseth aides put on leave from Pentagon amid leak probe
And there is more turmoil at the Pentagon apart from the Signal saga. Last week, Hegseth fired three senior aides and had them marched out of the Pentagon. He accused them of leaking classified information and vowed to refer them to the Justice Department.
Hegseth attributed the noise about his leadership to rapid, needed change.
“The media likes to call it chaos,” Hegseth said. “We call it overdue.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pete Hegseth snaps back, skirting Signal allegations in Army speech
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