National security Democrats press Hegseth on Pentagon staff shake-up

Three former service members-turned Democratic House lawmakers are demanding answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about recent staffing upheavals at the Pentagon.

In a letter sent to Hegseth on Tuesday and led by former Navy intelligence officer Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), the group expressed “deep concern regarding the turmoil taking place at the Department of Defense under your leadership.”

Hegseth in the past week has ousted his deputy chief of staff, a senior adviser, and the chief of staff to the deputy Defense secretary, with his chief of staff reassigned to a new position within the department and a top spokesperson choosing to leave.

“Certainly it is the prerogative of every Secretary of Defense to choose his or her own staff, but the scale of these firings is simply staggering,” the letter reads, as first reported by Semafor.

What’s more concerning, they write, is that the staffing shake-up follows “wider unacceptable and dangerous behavior” at the department, including the revelation last month that Hegseth shared sensitive attack plans on the U.S. military operation in Yemen against Houthi militants in a Signal group chat that mistakenly included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.

It also was reported Sunday by The New York Times that Hegseth shared the same details about the Yemen airstrikes in a separate Signal text chain that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer. 

“This lack of judgment is dangerous and has already put American lives at risk,” wrote the group, which also includes Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a Marine Corps veteran; Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), who served in the Air Force; and Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.).   

The lawmakers request details related to Hegseth’s front office staff and the functions they handle. Such roles are greatly important as they are meant to help the Pentagon chief “make timely life or death decisions on matters including missile defense of the homeland, whether to shoot down a civilian airliner threatening the President or the Capitol, for example, and nuclear command and control,” they wrote.  

The group also wants to know whether there are any members of Hegseth’s immediate office on any Signal chats related to operational matters, and if improvements to communications have been made since the Signal scandal broke. 

Hegseth has been in hot water for more than a month in the wake of his sharing Yemen war plans via the Signal messaging app, though President Trump has said he still stands behind his Defense secretary.

Speaking to the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., on Wednesday, Hegseth alluded to ongoing controversies.

“When President Trump called me to take this job, he told me two things: The first was ‘Pete, you’re going to have to be tough as s---. Tough.’ Boy, he was not kidding on that one,” Hegseth told students and staff.