Tag Archives: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

Better Late Than Never (I Guess)

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On Thursday, The Hill posted an article about a policy Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has recently put in place at the Department of Defense.

The article reports:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday said the Pentagon would no longer allow Chinese nationals to work as coders on Department of Defense (DOD) cloud systems. 

A program previously allowed Chinese developers to work as “digital escorts” in a role modeled by Microsoft, where foreign nationals remain under the supervision of remote U.S. contractors.

China has a long history of stealing intellectual property, military secrets, etc. Why in the world would you let them anywhere near the computers in the Department of Defense?

The article notes:

Hegseth said the effort “exposed” the department to “unacceptable risks.”

“I mean, if you’re thinking America first and common sense, this doesn’t pass either of those tests. So I initiated an immediate review of this vulnerability, and I want to report our initial findings,” the Defense secretary said in a Wednesday video uploaded to the social platform X. 

“So the use of Chinese nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments, it’s over,” he added. 

Hegseth said Microsoft would conduct an audit free of taxpayer expenses to uncover any vulnerabilities.

“Additionally, all Department of Defense software vendors will identify and terminate any Chinese involvement in DOD systems,” Hegseth said.

The article concludes:

Hegseth said both the Microsoft audit and a separate investigation were launched to reveal malware and associated risks.

“We’ve issued a formal letter of concern to Microsoft documenting this breach of trust, and we’re requiring a third-party audit of Microsoft’s digital escort program, including the code and the submissions by Chinese nationals. … I’m also tasking the Department of Defense experts with a separate investigation of the digital escort program and the Chinese Microsoft employees that were involved in it,” Hegseth said Wednesday.

“These investigations will help us determine the impact of this digital escort workaround. Did they put anything in the code that we didn’t know about? We’re going to find out,” he added.

I guess common sense took a vacation for a while. It’s good to see that it’s back.

Paying The Price For Challenging The Status Quo

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Recently, some Pentagon officials were fired for leaking to the press. Another official resigned after allegedly not getting the position he wanted. Then, even more recently, there were calls for the Secretary of Defense to step down. Is it too much to assume that all of these events are related?

On Tuesday, The Federalist reported:

Within hours of one another, The New York Times and Politico dropped hit pieces on Sunday against the Pentagon chief. The pieces were apparently aimed at undermining his leadership of America’s military. While the former used anonymous sources to try and revive the media’s “Signalgate” dud, the latter ran an op-ed from a former Defense Department spokesman — who resigned last week after evidently failing to get the Pentagon job he wanted — alleging “total chaos” at the agency under Hegseth’s direction.

NPR decided to join the pile-on, publishing a piece on Monday containing allegations from an unnamed “U.S. official” that the White House “has begun the process of looking for a new leader at the Pentagon to replace Pete Hegseth.” The White House quickly shot down the claim.

The articles were published on the heels of a major shake-up at the Pentagon last week, which saw the dismissal of several high-level advisers over claims of unauthorized leaking. The officials have since denied the allegations.

The article notes:

Democrats and their buddies in the corporate press spent the entirety of last week fomenting outrage about the Trump administration’s deportation of a Salvadoran national with alleged ties to MS-13 back to El Salvador. Without a drop of shame, these propagandists characterized this alleged wife-beater as just a “Maryland man,” with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., even going as far as to travel to El Salvador to meet the deported noncitizen.

For a party with record-low favorability ratings among the American people, running to the defense of an illegal alien credibly accused of being affiliated with a deadly gang isn’t exactly great optics. It’s clear Democrats needed a narrative change fast, and their media allies’ new anti-Hegseth blitz represented the perfect off-ramp.

Second, and more important, the D.C. establishment’s continued campaign to oust Hegseth comes from its fervent opposition to the much-needed change he’s bringing to the Pentagon.

For years, the Defense Department has operated within the best interests of the agency’s higher-ups and D.C.’s notorious defense-industrial complex. While high-ranking officials used their coveted positions of influence to advance neo-Marxist ideologies throughout the Pentagon and defense contractors got rich off of America’s military involvement in nonsensical overseas conflicts, rank-and-file service members’ needs were ignored, the country’s military infrastructure crumbled, and the priority of winning wars went out the window.

The article lists the accomplishments of Secretary Hegseth:

Since taking over the reins at the DOD, Hegseth has overseen a noticeable rise in military recruiting, eliminated divisive and destructive DEI ideology, restored standards to military service, scrapped the Pentagon’s immoral and illegal Biden-era abortion policy, ended racist affirmative action policies at U.S. military academies, directed military assets to protect America’s borders, carried out strikes on Houthi terrorists, and more.

Secretary Hegseth is where America needs him to be.

Dealing With The Leaks

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The first Trump administration had a major problem with people in the administration leaking to the press. Generally these were not leaks that in any way helped the administration. Many of them were quite damaging. It seems as if the second Trump administration has learned some lessons from the first Trump administration.

On Tuesday, The Daily Wire reported:

Dan Caldwell, adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has been placed on leave pending an ongoing investigation into leaks in the Defense Department, The Daily Wire has confirmed.

An official within the Defense Department confirmed the report to Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan on Tuesday.

…Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has employed polygraph testing in her efforts to root out suspected leakers within the DHS. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS’ assistant secretary for public affairs, issued a statement to Fox News Digital on that initiative, saying, “Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS is unapologetic about its efforts to root out leakers that undermine national security. We are agnostic about your standing, tenure, political appointment or status as a career civil servant – we will track down leakers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has also taken a hardline stance on potential leakers in the intelligence community, saying in a statement, “Politically motivated leaks undermine our national security and the trust of the American people and will not be tolerated. Unfortunately, such leaks have become commonplace with no investigation or accountability. That ends now. We know of and are aggressively pursuing recent leakers from within the Intelligence Community and will hold them accountable.”

If you hold an important position in the government, you should not be leaking to the press. It is unprofessional and undermines the administration. There should be a more severe penalty than just losing your job.

Things Are Changing Very Quickly

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On Sunday, Breitbart posted an article about one of the changes the Trump administration has made regarding the Panama Canal.

The article reports:

… Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had one mission on his trip to Panama — to secure a deal to get “first and free” passage for U.S. ships in the Panama Canal, a critical waterway for the United States’ economy and military that was at risk of falling under China’s control.

As the secretary and his team flew the down from Washington on Monday evening to meet with Panama’s leaders, such a deal with Panama was far from certain.

While the U.S. had built the canal in the early 1900s and maintained it for decades before handing it over to Panama, China had in recent years poured money into projects and infrastructure attached to it. As a passageway between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans that handles more than 40 percent of U.S. maritime trade, if China were able to close the canal, it would be a catastrophe for the U.S.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s mission was a success:

On Wednesday, Hegseth delivered opening remarks at the conference, which was co-hosted by the U.S. and Panama.

It was there that Hegseth announced that the U.S. and Panama would sign a declaration providing a framework for U.S. warships and auxiliary ships to travel “first and free” through the canal, in a huge win for the U.S.

Hegseth and Abrego also agreed to an expanded partnership to secure the canal and signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperative security activities between the U.S. and Panamanian militaries, which will see the increase of U.S. troops in Panama.

Asked by Breitbart News if he had accomplished everything he wanted to on the trip, a triumphant Hegseth responded, “This trip not only met but exceeded our expectations. A warm welcome from Panama. Great partnership. Spent a lot of time with their troops. I want to thank Panama for what they’ve done in the Darien Gap as well.”

This is a much needed move by the Trump administration.