Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) questions the president of the American federal reserve Jerome Powell while testifies during a hearing of the banking, housing and urban affairs committee of the Senate on the “semi-monetary policy report of the Fed at the Congress”, on Capitol Hill on March 3, 2022 in Washington, DC, DC ”
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Senator Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, calls on the Ministry of Defense to extend its existing evaluation to the use of the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, which he used to share sensitive military operations.
NPR first reported that the White House was looking for a new defense secretary, after the news has surfaced that Hegseth shared sensitive military information in another signal group cat. During the weekend, The New York Times said the second cat included several people who are not employees of the Ministry of Defense, including the wife, brother and personal lawyer of Hegseth.
“This is only a complete collapse of common defense and it endangers our national security,” said Reed Morning edition.
In March, The AtlanticJeffrey Goldberg’s editor -in -chief reported that he had inadvertently added to a signal conversation with HegSeth and other senior US national security officials, who discussed the military air strikes planned for Yemen.
Hegseth defended himself by saying that the information he shared in the two group cats was informal.
“What has been shared on signal, then and now, whatever your characterization, was informal and not classified coordination for media coordination and other things,” said Hegseth Fox and friends A day after the news of the second signal cat surfaced.
The interim inspector general of the Pentagon, Steven Stebbins, assesses the use of the signal by Hegseth to determine if the classified information was shared in the initial group cat.
Mollie Helpern, spokesperson for Inspector General of the Pentagon, told NPR that Stebbins was aware of reports on the second HegSeth signal cat and that the evaluation is underway.
Reed, the best Democrat of the Senate Armed Services Committee, fought against the appointment of Hegseth, constantly saying that “he does not have the experience of managing a large company like the Pentagon”.
Leila Fadel of NPR explained to Reed why he thinks that Hegseth is a threat to American national security.
The following extract was published for duration and clarity.
Leila Fadel: The Trump administration denies any classified material has been shared in one or the other of the two signal cats in which the defense secretary participated. But you don’t take administration in the word. For what?
Senator Jack Reed: Well, the information was very sensitive to the attacks and the timing. The information if we shared with our opponents would have put our pilots in danger. And it is a very fundamental error that no one in the army of no higher rank should make. I was opposed to the appointment of Hegseth. This is why I fought vigorously against it, and we almost defeated it. But he confirms everything we said. He does not have the experience to manage a large business like the Pentagon. It does not work according to the chain of command, in my opinion. He has a framework of old friends around him. And ironically, this week, he drew a lot of his former friends. So, this is only a complete collapse of the common defense and it endangers our national security.
Fadel: Is the administration cooperated?
Reed: Oh, the administration does not cooperate, I do not think. There are rumors that they are looking for someone else. If this is the case, they would better send someone who is a real professional with experience and maturity, judgment, appropriate temperament and a deep commitment to the Constitution. These are all things that are very suspect in the dry. Hegseth’s behavior.
Fadel: The president of the armed services of the Senate, the Republican Roger Wicker, joined you earlier this month to call the guard dog of the Ministry of Defense to investigate. What do you mean in deprived of your republican colleagues on the hill? Are they always confident about Pete Hegseth’s leadership?
Reed: I think there is a lot of anxiety and nervousness, because they have seen these screens and we have an organization which is the largest organization in the United States, basically, led by someone whose previous experience managing the group of veterans has practically ended with bankruptcy. So they wonder – we are all wondering – if it will be the same situation. It seems that he has a lack of attention on the details, and it is a critical and critical gap with the defense secretary.
NPR Disclosure: Katherine Maher, CEO of NPR, chairs the board of directors of the Signal Foundation.
