Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Wednesday he does not think Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is “up to the task” of running the Pentagon.
Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, expressed concern in a new interview following new reporting that Hegseth shared sensitive details about U.S. plans to attack Houthi rebels in a previously undisclosed Signal group chat — this time one that included his wife, brother and personal attorney.
Hegseth previously came under scrutiny for sharing similar details in a Signal chat that inadvertently included The Atlantic’s editor in chief.
“My reaction to the whole mess is, it’s becoming clear that Secretary Hegseth simply doesn’t have the management experience to run this department,” Smith said on MSNBC.
“It seems fairly clear that he is not up to the task of managing the Pentagon. And it jeopardizes national security and places us all at risk,” he added.
Smith particularly criticized Hegseth’s response to the latest reporting. In a Fox News interview on Tuesday, Hegseth maintained nothing was classified in the group chat and blamed the media and disgruntled employees for targeting him.
“I mean, to continue to use Signal after all that has come out, but his lack of responsiveness to all the problems that have been arisen just makes the whole thing worse,” Smith said.
“People make mistakes in terms of sharing classified information, but for the secretary of Defense to come out and say, this was nothing classified, nothing serious, when we have all read very specifically what was in that chat — as you just described earlier — absolutely attack plans: time, place, manner, all of that being shared, clearly a mistake.”
Smith said he doesn’t expect President Trump to fire Hegseth, despite the latest controversies, because, according to Smith, the president prioritizes personal loyalty over good management.
“This is the way Trump wants to run his government. He wants to run it as an authoritarian. He wants to run it based on personal loyalty to him. And Pete Hegseth has been 100 percent loyal to Donald Trump,” Smith said.
“This is the problem with the Trump administration,” he continued. “This is the problem with taking an authoritarian approach to running our government: Instead of obeying the Constitution and the laws of our government, it’s about Trump. It’s not about the American people. It’s not about running our government well.”
“So, no, I don’t expect Trump to fire Pete Hegseth. Pete Hegseth’s doing a great job for Donald Trump. He’s just jeopardizing the national security of the American people, which we all ought to be concerned about,” Smith added.