Ship of Fools

In Plato’s Republic, written about 375 BC, a seafaring crew of incompetents, a ship of fools, illustrates the difficulty of governing when leaders are dysfunctional.

Fast forward to the present, and enter Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who used a popular but less than secure messaging app, Signal, to share detailed plans of an impending air strike on a Houthi position in Yemen. Eighteen officials were included in the distribution of the Hegseth message. Among them were Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, CIA Director John Ratcliff, and another dozen high-ranking members of the Trump Administration. Inextricably, Jeffery Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic Magazine, was among those to whom this highly sensitive war planning message was distributed.

At first, Goldberg questioned whether the iPhone message about the attack was authentic. It was not the kind of message that would be sent to an outsider, and certainly not as an unencrypted cell phone message. Goldberg felt the message was too operational and specific to have been intended for him or any other press member. It even crossed his mind that someone was trying to bait him into writing a phony story.

It seemed doubtful that standard protocol would include sending a highly sensitive message to a gaggle of high-ranking officials every time enemy positions were targeted. It is unthinkable that Jeffery Goldberg would get copied on such a sensitive message or that Pete Hegseth would feel any need to tap out details about a combat mission on his iPhone hours before our aircraft had even taken off.

Presumably, there are rules, or at least common-sense understandings, about yapping or tapping out information on an iPhone regarding impending combat missions. But then, again, perhaps I presume too much.

Whether Hegseth was following some undisclosed protocol to keep certain officials in the loop or just burnishing his bonafide as an important in-the-know official of the Administration isn’t clear. What is clear, however, is his breathtaking lapse of judgment. The American pilot who flew that combat mission had every right to expect that his bosses, especially a high-ranking boss like Pete Hegseth, would have the good judgment not to unnecessarily gab or text about a mission (especially on an unsecured iPhone) before it was completed, let alone before it was even started. After all, the pilot’s life was on the line.

By now, Hegseth’s less-than-secure iPhone message has been read or could have been read by just about everybody in the world who follows the news. Here is the message Secretary of Defense Hegseth released to the group two hours before the United States commenced the attack.

*“TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.”

*“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”

*“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”

*“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)”“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets).”

“1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”

*“MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)”

*“We are currently clean on OPSEC”—that is, operational security.

*“Godspeed to our Warriors.”

It is hard to understand what imperative necessitated that particular heads-up to so many people. A detailed description of the attack was being circulated before the American pilot who was going to fly that mission was even in the cockpit to commence a mission that was dangerous enough without his civilian superiors unnecessarily and carelessly bandying around specific flight and target information.

As it turns out, Pete Hegseth had nothing to do with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg being in the loop to receive the details of the mission. That inexplicable lapse in judgment belongs to National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. You can’t make up this stuff.

When asked about the incident, President Trump pivoted to criticize the magazine instead of whoever was responsible for the broader circulation of the story. "I don't know anything about it," the president responded. "I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me, it's a magazine that's going out of business. I think it's not much of a magazine. But I know nothing about it." It’s doubtful that anyone at the Atlantic cares what President Trump thinks of the Magazine. Media sources report, however, that The Atlantic has turned the proverbial corner and is now operating profitably.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has reported that President Trump "continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz." President Trump added, “Waltz has learned a lesson and is a good man."

Mike Waltz is undoubtedly a good man, but good men are sacrificed all the time when things go wrong. Well, things certainly did go wrong, and now a chorus of Washington insiders are calling for Waltz’s head.

Perhaps most perplexing is the absurd messaging by President Trump, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stating that the message regarding the attack on Yemen was not classified. The message included such details as the date, time, and location of the attack on a Yemeni target. If the date, time, and precise location of an attack about to take place aren’t classified, then what is? If the attack plan on the Yemini target was not classified, that raises a pertinent question. Shouldn’t it have been?

President Trump supported Hegseth on Wednesday, saying he was "doing a great job." The President described Goldberg as a "sleazebag." The White House has also attempted to argue that the information shared was benign, not technically war planning, and would not necessitate it being classified.

"If Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, is texting me, telling me the attack was about to be launched on Yemen - telling me what kind of aircraft is going to be used, what kind of weapons are going to be used, and when the bombs are going to fall, that seems like sensitive, war-planning information to me," Goldberg said. Goldberg waited quite correctly until the mission was completed before reporting on the attack.

Nothing about Goldberg’s professional judgment seems to reflect poorly on him. The same cannot be said about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Please share our weekly commentary with others.

Of Thee I Sing 1776. Subscribe here:

https://oftheeising1776.substack.com/subscribe

Recent podcasts have featured my commentary on Liz Cheney’s book, “Oath and Honor,” as well as my commentaries regarding:

U.S. Representative Jim Jordan,

Brian Kemp and Those Republicans of Georgia,

The Trump Indictments,

The Fox Corp Settlement,

The CNN Trump Town Hall,

The Hunter Biden plea deal,

The New American Cult of Personality,

and my interviews with William Bratton, Retired Chief of Police in New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston;

Rikki Klieman, Attorney, Network News Analyst, and best-selling author;

John Thoresen, Executive Director, Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center;

Katherine Gehl, co-author of The Politics Industry and founder of the Institute for Political Innovation;

Jazz artist Ann Hampton Callaway;

Outlander author Diana Gabaldon;

AI Data Scientist Lawrence Kite;

Ryan Clancy, Chief Strategist of No Labels;

Former Senator Barbara Boxer;

Former Senator Joe Lieberman;

and former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan.

Novels by Hal Gershowitz