Weekend Fox News co-host turned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is reportedly under fire from his own command, with some insiders describing him as “crawling out of his skin,” after just eight months of leading the Pentagon.
“The defense secretary—who prefers the moniker ‘Secretary of War’—is being described by staffers as ‘manic,’ erupting into fits of rage and tumultuous tirades, theDaily Mail reported on Monday,” according to The Daily Beast. “They said Hegseth is becoming increasingly ‘obsessed’ with his own security and exhibits frenzied behavior, such as fidgeting and pacing during meetings.”
“‘There’s a manic quality about him. Or let me rephrase, an even more manic quality, which is really saying something,’ an insider told the outlet.”
“That warrior personae, he’s spooked,” others said.
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“Dude is crawling out of his skin,” added yet another source.
Protection of Hegseth’s homes in Minnesota, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., is straining resources. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID), responsible for his protection, “has reportedly pulled agents away from criminal probes,” according to the Beast.
The Daily Beast reported that Hegseth’s “increasingly erratic demands” are manifesting in ways “that have played out in public,” including Tuesday’s upcoming mandatory in-person meeting of about 800 generals and admirals from across the globe, along with their support staffs. All are traveling to Quantico, Virginia, for what some have described as a “pep rally,” where Hegseth will share with them his concept of the “warrior ethos.”
At that meeting, the Defense Secretary is also expected to share “grooming standards” with the top brass, according to Politico:
“He will focus on these elements in his speech, said the officials, and outline a new vision for national security under the Trump administration that includes more emphasis on homeland security and the Western Hemisphere over far-flung conflicts.”
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In a letter to the Defense Secretary, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a retired lieutenant colonel who was awarded a Purple Heart and served for more than two decades in the U.S. Armed Forces, blasted the meeting.
Senator Duckworth called it an “unprecedented concentration of senior military leadership in one location simply to hear you speak about standards and ethos at significant cost and with potentially serious security implications.”
“This includes both the personal security of all individuals assembling-and creating a rich target for any malign actor and national security, given that our adversaries will know that many of our most senior commanders from around the world are tied up together with some portion of the highest level of the civilian chain of command.”
“To our knowledge,” Duckworth added, “no Secretary of Defense in modern history has convened an in-person gathering of this scale, involving general and flag officer commanders worldwide, without a publicly stated agenda or declared crisis.”
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