Articles

Originally published in: ALXnow

For the second time in less than a month, Alexandria Congressman Don Beyer (D-8th) is calling for the resignation or removal of U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Beyer said that Hegseth “is a threat to American national security.”

Hegseth, who has been defense secretary since Jan. 25, is under fire for sending sensitive information last month about missile strikes in Yemen in a Signal chat that included his wife, brother, and personal attorney, the New York Times reported.

The news follows the controversial leak of a Signal chat of planned strikes in Yemen in which The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg was included in a high-level text chain with high-level federal decision makers.

According to Beyer:

As we have seen in the weeks since reporting by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg first revealed the Secretary’s reckless violation of national security procedures, this was not an isolated incident nor was it a mistake. He has shown a pattern of flagrant disregard for the rules and responsibilities entrusted to his office and made clear that he is unfit and unqualified to serve as our Secretary of Defense. Such repeated lapses in judgement not only disprove Hegseth’s claims of ‘100% operations security,’ but also actively put our servicemembers at home and abroad in harm’s way.

The Secretary has not shown the discretion nor the sound judgement needed to manage his own communications or his front office. As he has previously stated himself: Any security professional ‘would be fired on the spot for this type of conduct and criminally prosecuted for being so reckless with this kind of information.’ The Secretary of Defense is not above the law. He is not exempt from the standards every servicemember serving in the Department of Defense is held to.

At minimum, Hegseth must resign immediately. If he refuses, President Trump must remove him without delay. Every day he remains in office is a threat to American national security.”