Trump believes that Hegseth “bring together” chaos in the middle of the Pentagon Stage: NPR

President Donald Trump said that he spoke to his competitive Minister of Defense Pete Hegseth after using the unsafe signal chat to discuss classified information and had some of his top adjutants fired and had the Pentagon involved in the chaos.

“I think he will bring it together,” Trump said about Hegseth during an interview The Atlantic Magazine over the weekend. “I had a conversation with him, a positive conversation, but I had a conversation with him.”

In the meantime, a former employee, Colin Carroll, who was deputy defense minister Steve Feinberg, said in a long interview with Megyn Kelly on Saturday a “culture of fear and toxicity” in Hegseth's office. “Nobody will want to come into this environment.”

Carroll, together with Hegseth's former top adjutant, Dan Caldwell and Selnick in it, were charged by the Defense Minister that they had passed on classified information to the press. Both Carroll and Caldwell emphasize all the leaks in separate interviews and on X, instead they were released because they had problems working with Hegseth's chief of staff Joe Kasper, who supervised what they describe as a dysfunctional office. NPR has repeatedly contacted Kasper, who has not returned telephone calls.

In her interview with Carroll, Kelly said that she changed to Kasper, who published an explanation: “The idea that there was a functional disorder is a convenience argument that is afterwards armed by a small group that combines the president and the secretary in her own interests.” Kasper has now resigned as chief of staff and will now work as a “special employee” of science, technology and industry.

In the meantime, Trump's national security advisor Mike Waltz made Fox News on Sunday to defend Hegseth. “He leads the indictment and he has no tolerance to wake up,” said Waltz, giving suggestions for chaos or dysfunction a “media narrative” and that Trump officers go through the power. “Waltz, who took over the responsibility for the creation of a signal chat group, which accidentally contained a journalist last month, raised a question about the departure of senior adjutants, including Kasper.

On Friday, the Pentagon announced that four new senior consultants had been promoted. This includes Col. Ricky Buria, a former junior military assistant; Justin Fulcher, a member of the Doge team that was embedded in the Pentagon, and Patrick Weaver, formerly Ministry of Defense “special assistant”.

Sean Parnell, who was the chief spokesman for the Pentagon, was promoted to assistant to the Minister of Defense and the Senior Advisor.

All the mentioned have little experience in the pentagon, and these jobs are often filled by years of years that serve in the military, the government or industry.

Parnell, a native of Pittsburgh, worked for the military for six years, ran unsuccessfully for the US house in 2020 and started a short-lived campaign for the US Senate next year. Fulcher, who Forbes The magazine was presented in its 30 -under -30 list in 2017 and came to the Pentagon as part of the Tech -billionaire Elon Musk. Forbes later played him again in an article in which he questioned his registration information as an entrepreneur. Weaver completed the college in 2017 and was in the first Trump administration of the Ministry of Homeland Security.

The 26 -year -old Wilson was deputy press spokesman and will now be the reigning press spokesman. Only last month she was criticized by members of the congress and Jewish groups for online contributions and previous public comments that she made before the Trump administration.

It is uncertain whether these appointments are permanent or placeholder. The White House contacted civil servants who served in the first Trump administration and were looking for employees who will “keep” the ship in the Pentagon, a former Trump officer who asked for anonymity to describe internal administrative consultations. Another official has announced that the White House started the preliminary process of looking for a replacement for Hegseth.

In his interview with Megyn Kelly, Carroll fears that the disorder at the upper reaches of the Pentagon could mean difficulties in a crisis. “We didn't have a big challenge at this time,” said Carroll, a veteran and graduate of the naval academy. “So I don't know how the department would work if we had the case of Kabul”, which refers to chaos when the US forces left the Afghan capital in August 2021. “This is my greatest fear.”

Carroll said that he would like to return to the Pentagon and resume his work with deputy secretary Feinberg and implement the programs on which he worked without the required employees. “The president's agenda is currently at risk,” he said, pointing out the proposed defense system for Golden Dome Missile and shipbuilding, concerns that there will be delays in personnel recovery.

Hegseth's fall has requested a number of Democrats, and on Sunday Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a member of the Senate -dispute service, said about CBS that Hegseth had created “Chaos” in the Pentagon.

“The fact is that Pete Hegseth was not qualified to take on the job as a defense minister, and he has shown it again and again,” said Shaheen on Sunday with Margaret Brennan.

A Republican, Rep. Don Bacon from Nebraska, a General Brigadier in the retired Air Force, said that he was not believed that it was in his place to demand Hegseth's resignation, but criticized the signal shoes of the defense secretary about an upcoming attack on Yemen.

“I had concerns right from the start because Pete Hegseth hadn't had much experience,” said Bacon, who is now heading the subcommittee in cyber problems, to reporters last week. “I like him on Fox. But he has the experience of leading one of the largest organizations in the world? Is that a problem.”

The 44 -year -old Hegseth is a former moderator of FOX News and National Guard, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, but had no experience in the government when he was nominated by Trump to lead the Pentagon, which supervises around 3 million civil and military workers and has an annual budget of around 900 billion US do do it. Hegseth had less experience than any other Minister of Defense since position in 1947 was created. He also overcame allegations of sexual assault, public drunkenness and questions of financial mismanagement among two veterans groups that he led.

In January, Hegseth spoke about his lack of experience in confirming the Committee of the Senate. He had “dust on his boots” from his combat inserts and sworn to be a “change agent” and “disruptor” in the Pentagon, which concentrated too much on “bright” ideology and diversity, equity and recording. He narrowly gained the approval of the Senate with a vote of 50: 50, with Vice President Vance filling the necessary coordination of the draw.

Hegseth immediately became a “disruptor” and was criticized because he was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General CQ Brown, the second African American for the post, and ADM. Lisa Franchetti, the first top officer of the Navy, held. He also ended minority and women students in West Point and had books on racial, gender and transgender problems that were removed from the Naval Academy Library.

But last month he was introduced to the exam that he forwarded classified information to those without approval. Hegseth received details – including timing, goals and ordnance for a strike on March 15 against Houthi goals in Yemen – from General Erik Kurilla, which monitored the operations of the Middle East and communicated through a classified system. Hegseth, on the other hand, gave updates for the top officials for the top officials of the White House, without knowing that a reporter was wrongly added to the chat.

Hegseth claimed that the chats contained only “media strategy”, but the reporter in the chat, Jeffrey Goldberg, provided a negative degree of some of this information, of which the members of the congress and the retired military officers were clearly classified. And her concern was that an opponent could hack this unsecured communication and put pilots in danger.

Then last week, The New York Times reported that there was a second signal chat with the same information, which included Hegseth's wife, brother and personal lawyers.

In the meantime, Iraq and Afghan veterans published the results of an overview of their membership of the signal controversy.

In the survey IAVA veterans overwhelmingly believe that the responsibility for the leak of classified information about the signal by administrative officials should be responsible, including more than 3 out of 4 of IAVA veterans who identify as republicans. “It is clear that IAVA veterans take note of the measures of the new administration,” said Allison Jaslow, CEO of IAVA. “Most would like to see the accountability for the leak of classified information by administrative officers who have recently made headlines, as they know that they are held accountable for the same.”

NPR Disclosure: Katherine Maher, the CEO of NPR, demonstrates the board of the Signal Foundation.

Quil Lawrence contributed to this story.