Under Hegseth, chaos prevails at the Pentagon

The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, arrived at the Pentagon in January with almost no experience of the government and enormous ambitions to redo how the army was managed.

In just three months in power, Mr. Hegseth, a former leader of Fox News, rather produced a series of unmatched chaos in the recent history of the Ministry of Defense.

The inner circle of Mr. Hegseth of close advisers – military veterans who, like him, had little experience in large complex organizations – is in ruins. Three members of the team he brought with him in the Pentagon was accused last week of having disclosed unauthorized information and escorted the building.

A fourth recently deceased member of Mr. Hegseth’s team John Ulyot, who had been his best spokesperson, accused Mr. Hegseth of disloyalty and incompetence in an opinion at Politico on Sunday. “The building is in disorder under the direction of Hegseth,” wrote Mr. Ulyot.

Discord, according to current and former defense officials, includes: screaming matches in its inner office among the aid; an increasing distrust of the thousands of military and civilian staff who claim the building; And the bureaucratic logjams that have slowed down the progress of some of President Trump’s main priorities, such as a “Iron Dome for America” shield. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal affairs.

Adding to the dysfunction, the Elon Musk government’s Ministry of Government has set the objective of reducing up to 200,000 Pentagon’s civil workforce by 750,000, a level of reduction of Mr. Hegseth warned certain critical functions within the department, said three current and old defense officials.