In my limited past exposure as an IT military contractor I've probably had to take over a dozen trainings, never mind annual refreshers over OPSEC, personnel recovery and data classification/security, including testing requirements. I believe every federal employee and contractor takes a cyber awareness challenge/annual refresher, which covers topics like privacy concerns on social media like location info on photos, PII, PHI, and securing your workstation, government data, and government devices. You are asked to evaluate classifications of mixes of details, what may be shared with friends or loved ones, the recipient's need to know, proper channels for communication.
Hegseth's knowing participation in unsecured signal chats, talking specifics of planned operational details of sensitive military operations in Yemen or elsewhere is breathtaking in audacity and chutzpah. As if telegraphing upcoming military strikes in the original Signal chat including a journalist isn't obvious enough, consider this headline: "Houthi rebels have shot down 7 US Reaper drones worth $200 million in recent weeks." You cannot tell me that Houthis' air defenses would not find timely information on US attacks useful.
What's amazing is that Hegseth knows that Signal is not an approved channel for military communication, he used information from a secured channel to propagate to Signal, and he had to jump through hoops to get the app installed. This is after such notable scandals like Sarah Palin doing Alaska state business with an external email vendor and Hillary Clinton while Secretary of State using a personal email server, despite official policy.. Even in Trump's recent classified documents case, "Several of those documents, though, were allegedly shared with visitors to his golf club in Bedminster who had no security clearance." That Hegseth didn't vet all the members of his initial Signal disclosure, i.e., the journalist, is bad enough: "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed plans about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen on a second Signal group chat, this one on his personal phone and including his wife, lawyer and brother, three people familiar with the chat told CNN."
Hegseth's sham defense is little more than gaslighting his unauthorized disclosures by conveniently arguing disclosures weren't detailed enough to count; that's knowing rubbish. He would not have passed the military trainings I myself have gone through, and I think his own subordinates would be sanctioned for such breaches. He is not demonstrating the maturity and judgment I expect of military leadership. It validates my opposition to his nomination, and the POTUS should terminate him for cause.
