In the high-frequency churn of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s repeated missteps would have fueled guessing games about his imminent firing.
In Trump’s second term, however, Hegseth has managed to maintain the White House’s support — at least for now.
On Thursday, a Pentagon inspector general found that Hegseth risked endangering U.S. pilots, troops and attack plans with his decision to send sensitive information in texts via the messaging app Signal. Days earlier, he was on the defensive over his handling of an attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean that raised accusations of war crimes.