Hegseth brought his wife to two highly sensitive meetings with foreign military officials.

[Tonk]

It gets stranger every day.

Katherine Long, Max Colchester, Daniel Michaels, and Lindsay Wise write in the Wall Street Journal.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is facing scrutiny over his handling of details of a military strike, brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, according to multiple people who were present or had knowledge of the discussions.

One of the meetings, a high-level discussion at the Pentagon on March 6 between Hegseth and U.K. Secretary of Defense John Healey, took place at a sensitive moment for the trans-Atlantic alliance, one day after the U.S. said it had cut off military intelligence sharing with Ukraine. The group that met at the Pentagon, which included Adm. Tony Radakin, the head of the U.K.’s armed forces, discussed the U.S. rationale behind that decision, as well as future military collaboration between the two allies, according to people familiar with the meeting.

WSJ noted that it isn't uncommon for a Cabinet Secretary to bring a spouse to a meeting, but procedures require a minimum low-level security clearance. Even with clearance, according to DOD officials, the spouse is limited to those who need to know.

Jennifer Hegseth is not a DOD employee. She declined to confirm or deny whether she has such a clearance to accompany her husband to military meetings, and DOD officials declined to comment.

Jennifer Hegseth also attended a meeting last month at North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels where allied defense officials discussed their support for Ukraine, according to two people who attended the meeting. Hegseth’s brother Philip Hegseth has also been traveling with him on official visits, the Pentagon said.

The Brussels meeting, which took place on the sidelines of a February conference of NATO defense ministers, was a gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a U.S.-led forum of some 50 nations that periodically meets to coordinate on production and delivery of weapons and other support for Ukraine. At the closed-door discussions, national representatives routinely present confidential information, such as donations to Ukraine that they don’t want to be made public, according to officials.

Sounds like a family intervention to me.

[BoRaGard]

1. Interesting

[hlthe2b]

2. Can you please provide the link for this?

[Tonk]

3. I noticed I missed something after posting. Story updated with link.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/hegseth-brought-his-wife-to-sensitive-meetings-with-foreign-military-officials/ar-AA1BSglZ?ocid=BingNewsSerp

[Irish_Dem]

4. The big tough MAGA men all have to have their wives and toddlers as human shields.

[Chasstev365]

5. Possible Explanation

Someone has to hide his flask.

[Walleye]

6. Chances are very good. He is either drunk or hung over.

[Celerity]

7. he looks like he slept in his suit

Hegseth at his meeting with the U.K. secretary of defense, with wife Jennifer seated in back.
© Department of Defense

[Irish_Dem]

8. She is the new baby sitter.

[snowybirdie]

9. So he brings

a would be Faux News reporter to these meetings. Seems to me to be another security breach. Where do her loyalties lie? Old Pete goes through wives like he changes underwear!

[SallyHemmings]

10. Qualifications: handsome, white dude

He is an example of everything that is wrong with this administration.

Hegseth appears to have a problem. Instead of getting the help he needs, he takes on a highly stressful job. Worse, it appears his family is circling the wagons to keep him upright.

He should resign and get healthy but power is clearly more addictive than his alcohol.

[HAB911]

11. That's on those officials for allowing it

and going ahead with the meetings.

[tanyev]

12. "Yeah, dudes, I'm gonna tell her everything we talk about anyway,

so it’ll just be a lot easier for me if we let her sit in on the meeting, OK?”

[Emile]

13. She probably sat in on the Signal Group Chat too.

[demmiblue]

14. ...

[LetMyPeopleVote]

15. MaddowBlog-As allegations against Hegseth mount, the Pentagon chief faces a new kind of problem

As Pete Hegseth flails, there are apparently Pentagon insiders eager to talk about the defense secretary’s struggles.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3llopdxucnk2a

Hegseth's big problem: There's fresh evidence of his incompetence, failures, and abuses.

Hegseth's other problem: There appear to be Pentagon insiders who are willing to talk to reporters about his incompetence, failures, and abuses

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/allegations-hegseth-mount-pentagon-chief-faces-new-kind-problem-rcna198856

The Associated Press reported on Friday, for example, that Hegseth tapped his younger brother, Phil Hegseth, to serve as senior adviser to the secretary for the Department of Homeland Security and liaison officer to the Defense Department — a title that has meant, among other things, a trip to Guantanamo Bay and traveling on the Pentagon’s 747 aircraft as the Cabinet secretary makes his first trip to the Indo-Pacific. The AP’s report added:

It’s common for the Defense Department and other federal agencies to have liaisons. Each military branch sends liaisons to Capitol Hill. The Pentagon, State Department and others all use interagency liaisons to more closely coordinate and keep tabs on policy. But it is not common for those senior-level positions to be filled by family members of the Cabinet heads....

Despite Hegseth’s apparent preoccupation with merit-based employment decisions, his younger brother received a position of influence at the Pentagon despite a background as the founder of a podcast production company.

Around the same time, The Wall Street Journal published another report about the defense secretary that raised eyebrows:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is facing scrutiny over his handling of details of a military strike, brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, according to multiple people who were present or had knowledge of the discussions.

The Journal’s report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, added that a Defense secretary “can invite anyone to meetings with visiting counterparts, but attendee lists are usually carefully limited to those who need to be there and attendees are typically expected to possess security clearances given the delicate nature of the discussions.”....

The reporting from the AP and the Journal dovetailed with a Politico report that said while Donald Trump has expressed public support for Hegseth, “behind the scenes, administration insiders are starting to express doubts about the Pentagon chief’s judgment.” CNN had a related piece that said, “Interviews with multiple current and former national security officials this week, including career military and civilian officials, reflect growing concerns about Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon.”

Taken individually, the revelations about his brother’s job and his wife’s access are certainly important in their own right. But let’s not overlook the story behind the stories: It appears increasingly obvious that there are some people at the Pentagon who’ve learned some unfortunate things about Hegseth, and they’re suddenly eager to share that information with journalists.

Or put another way, two months into Hegseth’s tenure, he’s generating the kind of chatter that his respected and qualified predecessor didn’t have to worry about at the department he ostensibly leads.

It’s a problem for the Pentagon chief that there’s evidence of his incompetence, abuses and failures, but it’s just as notable a problem that there are DOD insiders who are apparently willing to talk to reporters about his incompetence, abuses and failures.