Hegseth’s office exodus hides the real problem: It’s him

For the past month, the Epstein files (or lack thereof) have eclipsed other law enforcement and national security stories, and the issues and questions raised by the Trump administration’s actions are important. But we should not lose sight of the Pentagon’s continued implosion. After all, the Department of Defense is tasked with defending the country, not chomos.

I’ve previously written about the Pentagon hemorrhaging top officials, but now they have outdone themselves. Justin Fulcher, a 32-year-old high-level official in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office — those words alone should have set off alarm bells — is now at least the secretary’s sixth top advisor to leave in six months. Most of the think pieces following Fulcher’s exit have missed the forest for the trees. The story is not about the usual Hegseth office drama; it’s more about Hegseth himself.

It’s easy to see why the office dysfunction narrative took hold. When the Fulcher story initially broke, CBS News reported he had been fired. Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, then acknowledged Fulcher’s exit in a text message. (Normally, there would have been a media briefing and some perfunctory farewell puffery, or at least a press release.) It didn’t help that Fulcher had to be his own communications guy and lily-gild his departure as “perfectly amiable.” Most of us know by now that when anything in Trump World is described as “perfect,” that’s usually code for pockmarked.

The Fulcher departure is unlike the other Hegseth scandals. To recap, in “Signalgate,” National Security Advisor Mike Waltz unwittingly invited Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, into an encrypted-but-unsecured chat during which Waltz, Hegseth and other principals discussed real-time U.S. airstrikes on Yemen. Subsequently, it emerged there was a second Signal group chat on the same topic, which involved Hegseth’s wife, brother and divorce lawyer. 

The next scandal involved three top Pentagon officials and Hegseth loyalists being put on administrative leave — and then unceremoniously fired — because of their suspected involvement in leaks about military plans to retake the Panama Canal. The trio issued a joint statement saying they were being unfairly targeted and thrown under the bus. As it turns out, they were right to feel scapegoated. Hegseth fell for a “batshit crazy” story “cooked up” by his divorce lawyer, which was used to help justify their ouster.

The toxic office kerfuffle continued to play out publicly, including unflattering headlines about Hegseth’s third wife crashing principals’ meetings with foreign military leaders, his first chief of staff being laterally arabasqued to a different position, his difficulty finding a new chief of staff and the departure of his chief spokesman, who described a “full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon.”

Now we have learned there was a third kerfuffle back in April, which adds another layer to the Pentagon intrigue. Fulcher, then with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, stormed out of a meeting with Yinon Weiss, the DOGE team lead at the Pentagon, because he thought Weiss had reported him to the internal police and security group. Fulcher took his complaint directly to Hegseth and enlisted his help in reigning in Weiss. Hegseth obliged, shouting at Weiss, which is never a good look for any workplace — especially when the head has a history of anger management problems. The icing on the cake of this fustercluck is that Fulcher was wrong. Weiss had contacted the Pentagon transition office, not the Pentagon police.

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Whatever the true reason for Fulcher’s departure, the alarming part should be Hegseth’s gullibility, inexperience and glaring ineptitude in both his hiring and ousting of Fulcher. In a mash-up of George Santos and Elizabeth Holmes, Fulcher appears to have padded his resume, claiming he was a college dropout, an entrepreneur of a successful telehealth startup and had received a non-existent PhD from Johns Hopkins University’s’ prestigious School of Advanced International Studies. It’s unclear how he could have obtained even a low-level security clearance.

It’s also difficult to imagine how bad, and perhaps how lethal, an infraction by Hegseth would have to be for him to be canned. Perhaps revealing nuclear design information? Or outing an undercover agent who then gets killed? I represent former Pentagon employees who were harshly investigated, prosecuted and often imprisoned because they blew the whistle on waterboarding, as was the case with John Kiriakou; inaccurate drone targeting (Brandon Bryant and Chris Aaron) and underreported civilian casualties from drone strikes (Daniel Hale). All these men received far more scrutiny and punishment than Hegseth, who has suffered no meaningful consequences.

I get that Whiskey Pete is Trump’s younger, fantasy alter ego — the swagger, the tough talk, the telegenic head of hair. But he also embodies Trump’s worst traits: Hubris, unresolved anger, misogyny, failing up. I can only wonder what our adversaries think when the official tasked with defending the most powerful country on the planet can’t even hold his own hand-picked front office together. A warrior ethos may be good for the battlefield, but it’s not when you unleash it on your own men. (And they are all men, which is a topic for a different column.)

There are multiple exit ramps Hegseth can take. He’s served his six months and can legitimately leave to spend more time with his three wives and seven kids. He can easily move into a cushy gig with a big defense contractor. He can probably get his own show in the Fox News universe, and certainly can compete on “Dancing with the Stars.” He has also apparently discussed the idea of running for governor of Tennessee.

Yes, Hegseth has nine lives. The troops he leads do not.