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  • 6/18/2025
At today's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) questioned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth about his use of Signal.
Transcript
00:00Peters. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. General Cain, both before and during your confirmation hearing,
00:09we discussed your commitment to duty and to adhering to the Constitution, as well as your
00:15oath of office. And I certainly appreciated your reassurance that you will remain,
00:20quote, a nonpartisan leader through and through, unquote, with one of your top priorities being
00:28maintaining the independence of the U.S. military. Along with the remaining apolitical, I'm sure you
00:34will agree that fostering a stable mission-focused environment is essential to leading the Department
00:41of Defense. So my question for you, sir, is can you please share with this committee and the American
00:46people what your approach to leadership as chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff is?
00:50Yes, sir. Certainly the job is one to understand the global set of challenges, integrate the options
01:03that must be considered, and then to present those options to the president. And I've always taken a
01:12servant leadership approach throughout my career based on my oath of office and the Constitution
01:19and my commission. And as a nonpartisan leader, you reiterate that?
01:23Always. Yeah, I reiterate that.
01:26Well, thank you. And as a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, I certainly agree with that
01:31and agree with your answers and your commitment to the men and women in uniform. Secretary Hegseth,
01:37your approach to leadership, I believe, stands in direct conflict with the ideas that we just
01:45discussed with General Cain. And at a time of great chaos and uncertainty in the world, I'm extremely
01:52concerned that your many shortcomings could have potentially life-threatening consequences for American
01:58service members. In your confirmation hearing, I expressed my deep reservations about your qualifications
02:05to run the DOD. I also made it clear that no board of directors in the world would hire someone with so
02:11little experience to run a large business, much less the Department of Defense, where American lives are on the line
02:20regularly. For this reason, in addition to some concerns we had about character, I ultimately opposed your nomination.
02:27And unfortunately, my reservations have become reality. I know my colleagues have touched on some of these issues,
02:34but to briefly summarize, you have failed to set the example or lead from the front, as you like to say.
02:43And this includes prompting a leadership and oversight vacuum at the department by firing qualified, uniform leaders
02:52without cause, creating loyalty tests and leak investigations that have led to five of your senior advisors
02:59resigning or being fired, sharing classified military details on an unsecure app during operations in Yemen that included
03:07unauthorized individuals on at least two separate occasions, and revoking the DOD personal protection detail for both
03:15Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and the former Chairman of Joint Chiefs Mark Milley, putting their safety at risk while they are
03:21still under threat from Iran. We have seen time and time again how your conduct lack of personal responsibility
03:29are harming readiness, reputation and professionalism of our military. At a time when where Israel and Iran are in open
03:37conflict and our adversaries in Russia and China will exploit any weaknesses, unfortunately, my worst fears about your
03:44leadership shortfalls, unfortunately, have been realized. Secretary Esgev, I firmly believe that accountability
03:52from leadership is vital in all sectors, not just in the military. And demonstrating to your subordinates that
03:58everyone plays by the same rules, helps to build trust and open communications within your team. And to those two things are
04:05extremely important. And I know that you share my desire to ensure that we're holding our senior leaders accountable for actions.
04:11And during your nomination hearing, you stated, quote, accountability is coming because everybody in this room knows if you are a
04:17rifleman and you lose your rifle, they are throwing the book at you, end of quote. You also said that leadership has been
04:24unwilling to take accountability. And I couldn't agree more on how important accountability is. As we all know, at the request of
04:33this committee, the Department of Defense Inspector General launched an investigation into your use of signal, an unclassified
04:39commercially available messaging application to discuss information pertaining military actions in
04:46Yemen. So given your focus on accountability, how will you demonstrate this accountability to the men and
04:52women in the U.S. military if the Inspector General finds that you improperly disclosed information?
05:03That assessment is pending at this time.
05:06That is a hypothetical question, but the gentleman's time has expired.
05:13I think your answer is clear. You are not going to be held accountable.
05:18Thank you very much, Senator Peters.

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