LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- As a military veteran whose very life depended on confidentiality regarding classified missions in Vietnam 56 years ago, it’s hard to fathom the trumped-up denials following last month’s reckless discussion of American military strikes on Yemen.
If anyone had revealed the destinations, the timing and the provisions of our three-man team back then, there would have been serious consequences, potentially demotion, discharge or even imprisonment.
My fellow veterans should know better. Among them, however, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are also guilty in this breach of national security.
Waltz, a former U.S. Army Green Beret who was deployed to the Iraq War, has become the center of the controversy due to his incomprehensible inclusion of a journalist in what should have been a highly secret meeting. It is due to Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg’s inclusion in the Signal chat group, however, that American citizens now know about the Trump administration’s national-security ineptitude and disregard for the lives of those engaged in our military and intelligence missions.
Waltz’s text via the unsecure messaging app about the location of a targeted Houthi missile coordinator as he was walking into his girlfriend’s building in Yemen may have exposed the source of that critical intelligence.
Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran, should have become cognizant of military secrecy during his service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet he used the Signal app to detail the timing, targets and methods of this military operation against Houthi militants. He endangered American pilots and crews, including those on an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, where shipping has been under Houthi attacks.
Vance, a former Marine Corps military journalist, and Gabbard, who served with the Army National Guard, both spent time in Iraq, where they should have learned about the importance of proper handling of classified information. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent also were among the 19 participants in this irresponsible chat.
It must be pointed out that it was the later fabrications elicited by the likes of Hegseth and Waltz and the attacks on Goldberg that prompted the Atlantic to expose the full transcript that revealed the extent of these officials’ actual disregard for national security.
Hegseth claimed that his statements regarding the timing and targets of warplanes and drones were not “war plans.” He denied that they amounted to classified information and said, “We will continue to do our job, while the media does what it does best: peddle hoaxes.” In his words, truths are hoaxes.
Waltz took responsibility for including Goldberg in the Signal chat but denied personally knowing him. “I know him by his horrible reputation,” he said. “And I know him in the sense that he hates the president ….”
Testifying before the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, Gabbard inaccurately claimed that, “there were no sources, methods, locations or war plans that were shared.”
But the ultimate responsibility lies with the commander in chief. That happens to be President Donald J. Trump.
It’s the commander in chief who should be in charge of classified meetings in advance of significant military actions. It’s the commander in chief who should be sure that his appointments to such positions as directors of defense, national intelligence and the CIA and national security adviser are qualified, experienced and competent.
Then again, when questioned nine days after the fiasco, Trump responded to reporters, “You’re telling me about this for the first time. Having to do with what? What were they talking about?”
Dave Lange, a retired editor and Vietnam veteran, is a member of the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.
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