Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on the Department of Defence report finding Hegseth put military personnel at risk in the Signal chat incident

The US Defence Secretary seems to be in hot water. 

A Department of Defence report concluded that Pete Hegseth put military personnel at risk when he shared information of a planned airstrike over Signal. 

The incident came to light when a journalist for the Atlantic was accidently added to the chat in which sensitive details of the strike on Houthi fighters in Yemen back in March.  

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking Hegseth refused to take part in interviews for the investigation, claiming he has the power to declassify material mentally. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Stay signed Richard Donold, good morning, Good morning, Mike. They
underway with the questions.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
They are these briefings by the Navy admiral who reportedly
gave the orders for the US military to fire on
those survivors of an attack a Llegou drug boat that
they were targeting. So those briefings are taking place a
serious or classified sessions. But lawd makers always make their
opinions known, and Democrat Jim Hymes on the House Intelligence
Committee came out a few moments ago saying this, after

(00:27):
seeing some of the video was one of.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
The most troubling things I've seen in my time in
public service. You have two individuals in clear distress without
any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who were
killed by the United States. Any American who sees the
video that I saw will see the United States military

(00:51):
attacking shipwrecked sailors. Bad guys, bad guys, but attacking shipwrecked sailors.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
So that would be against the Geneva conventions. The publican side,
there is division which has been interesting. Some say the
accounts they're hearing clear the Defense Secretary pet higgsys Others
like Republican Senator around, Paul say, Nope, the bugs should
stop with the Defense Chief himself and not with the
Navy Admiral Frank Bradley and the Senate. It says, these
military attacks on the alleged Venezuelan drug boats are pretty

(01:20):
dodgy in his view of the whole operation, says Rand Paul.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
I frankly think it's absolutely illegal.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
As for the video of the twin attacks on the boat,
Trump suggests he would support the release of that material.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
I don't know what they have, but whatever they have
would certainly release, no problem.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
So is that simply talk or is it likely to happen?
The administration accounts of all this have been shifting around
a lot. The admiral reportedly is denying there was a
kill all order given by Higgsyth. The Defense Secretary says
he did not see survivors after the first strike. He says,
quite the thing that on fire are exploded in fire
and smoke, you can't see it now. The Pentagon is
suggesting that the two survivors were trying to continue their

(01:59):
drug run, and maybe we're attempting to salvage drugs or
to radio in for backup.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
Can both be true?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Any of the boat mostly blown to pieces, and still
argue the operation was continuing. A Democratic Senator Corry Booker
is calling for a full and open inquiry.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
I need to do this investigation now.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
The facts to me that I'm hearing are not satisfactory.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, this incident is playing out as Pentagon Watchdog has
found that Hegstas put military personnel at risk when he
used that open chat app signal to send info about
an attack on Whotius and Yemen back in March. HEGs
says shared information that was classified with people, including his
wife and a reporter who was sitting in a supermarket
parking lot when he was advised of the pending US attack.

(02:42):
Hegseth says this review clears him, but he refused to
take part in interviews for the investigation and instead claimed
he has the power to declassified material mentally, the same
thing that Trump argues. So even before he realized he
was telling people outside the Pentagon the what, when, and
where of the attack, he mentally declassified that same information.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Doesn't make much sense speaking of Hegsas sore, they're pleading
the New York are going to try the first and
the fifth Amendment.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, Yeah, New York Times has gone to court over this,
accusing the Pentagon of violating their constitutional rights by imposing
there's limits on what can be reported out of that building.
Times claims the new Pentagon restrictions ignore the Constitution when
it comes to free speech, for restricts journalists ability to
do what journos always have done and challenged public statements.
Back in September, of course, the Pentagon called on reporters

(03:29):
to sign a twenty one page form where they would
agree to potential punishments for gathering any info that was
not approved officially. The Pentagon then stripped several media outlets
of their workspaces in the place, offering them instead to
pro Trump outlets. They also expanded limits on where reporters
could move around the Pentagon building. This follows the Trump

(03:49):
exclusion of the Associated Press from the wine House pull
after the AP failed to follow the Trump call to
rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
You have a good whole today season, Richard will catch
up in twenty six. Appreciate your if it's in your
energy every morning, Richard Arnold stateside.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
For us For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast Listen
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