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U.S. diplomat Brett McGurk, who has held senior national security positions under both Republican and Democratic presidents, expressed his concern Tuesday on CNN over government insiders claiming the Pentagon was disintegrating under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership.
On Sunday, The New York Times reported that Hegseth used the unsecured Signal app a second time to share sensitive Houthi attack information with family members. Hegseth went on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday morning to blame the information "leak" on three Pentagon aides whom he appointed, then recently fired.
One of those former aides, John Ullyot, wrote in an opinion piece for Politico that the past "month from hell" at the agency has led to "a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon."
McGurk told CNN's Brianna Keilar on Tuesday, "I think the most significant news this week are the people who [Hegseth] picked, who are now out, who are saying the Pentagon is in a full-blown meltdown. So, these are his people. These are Trump appointees. This is a huge problem. Something is going on here that is deep and structural."
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McGurk continued, "You cannot have this kind of disarray at the Pentagon. You know, the chain of command goes from...the president to the secretary of Defense. That's the chain of command. And then down to the combatant command. This is so important for the protection of our country. Every military deployment, everything runs through that office. So, to have an insider say it's a full-blown meltdown — a Trump appointee — that's a real concern."
Keilar asked what McGurk thought might happen with Hegseth's tenure at the Pentagon.
"Look, I want this administration to succeed. I support that campaign against the Houthis, it's important. You just can't have this kind of disarray at the Pentagon," McGurk reiterated. "And, Trump, who's famous for holding people accountable, I would expect eventually there's going to be a change."
Keilar then asked, "If you are Iran...if you are Russia, how are you seeing this, with this chaos going on at the Pentagon?"
"If I was in the White House now in national security role and seeing another foreign country, a foreign adversary, having this level of five senior officials being basically walked out of the Pentagon — the most senior military command of that foreign capital — I would think they got some real problems under the surface. If this is just what we're seeing, imagine what is actually going on."
English (US)