Donald Trump sat down with The Atlantic in April, and when the discussion turned to his beleaguered defense secretary, the president offered support — in an awkwardly worded way. “I think he’s gonna get it together,” Trump said about Pete Hegseth.
That might yet be true, but the hapless Pentagon chief apparently hasn’t gotten it together just yet. NBC News reported:
The White House is looking for a new chief of staff and several senior advisers to support Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after a series of missteps that have shaken confidence in his leadership, but it has so far found no suitable takers, according to four current and former administration officials and a Republican congressional aide.
Among the secretary’s many problems at the Pentagon in his early months was widespread personnel turmoil inside the building, especially in the aftermath of the Signal chat scandal, leaving Hegseth without, among other things, a chief of staff. In late April, the Defense Department moved some officials around in the hopes of bolstering Hegseth’s leadership team, but vacancies remained.
As NBC News’ report noted, these positions have traditionally been seen as “prestigious” and “typically attract multiple qualified candidates,” but “at least three people have already turned down potential roles under Hegseth.”
While a Pentagon spokesperson denied the accuracy of the reporting, NBC News added: “So far, though, the administration has not had much luck identifying people who are either willing to work for Hegseth or who fit the bill politically.”
It was that sentence that stood out for me because it spoke to the complexity of the challenge: The search is on for qualified officials who are both MAGA-friendly and willing to work with an unqualified and scandal-plagued television personality who was elevated to one of the world’s most difficult administrative positions. Finding people who check one of the boxes is easy; finding people who check all of the boxes is apparently not going well. As for why the public should care, The Atlantic’s latest report on DOD developments summarized the landscape nicely: “Hegseth oversees a workforce of more than 3 million, and a budget of close to $1 trillion, without a chief of staff. His shrunken circle of close aides lacks extensive Pentagon experience. Key military commanders are preparing to retire without replacements in sight. Sidelined aides have aired details of unseemly feuds at the department’s senior levels, and a series of unflattering media reports have fueled what numerous officials describe as Hegseth’s fixation on stopping leaks.” There may come a day when the Pentagon chief, to borrow the president’s phrase, “gets it together,” but that day has not yet arrived.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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