Ernst must speak up about Hegseth’s failures

The U.S. Department of Defense has become a department in disarray as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces growing pressure to resign.

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that the former Fox News host and National Guard veteran shared classified information about the U.S. bombing mission in Yemen using the unclassified messaging app Signal to His wife, brother and personal lawyer.

This is on the heels of Hegseth discussing classified aspects of the bombing campaign with senior officials and, mistakenly, an Atlantic journalist.

Three of Hegseth’s senior advisers have been ousted, accused of leaking information to journalists. His former top spokesman wrote an opinion piece for Politico claiming, “The building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership.”

In December, Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst caused a MAGA uproar when she declined to initially support Hegseth’s nomination. The first woman combat veteran elected to the Senate wanted to let the nomination process play out. As a member of the Armed Services Committee, she would have a front-row seat.

But Ernst sparked a wave of attacks from Trump loyalists who threatened to find primary challengers for Ernst if she did not toe the party line. And eventually she bowed to that political pressure and supported Hegseth.

In her initial support, Ernst said she wanted a strong leader committed to "maintaining high standards." Hegseth has failed to uphold that requirement. He runs one of the largest and most complex departments in the world, which relies on rules, discipline, protocols and chain of command to carry out actions with pinpoint precision. Mistakes and miscalculations carry the heaviest of consequences.

His leadership has become a distraction and our military — current and future — deserves better.

Ernst now gets a second chance to do the right thing. We’d like to see her find her voice and use it to call for the woefully unqualified defense secretary to step down.

Just as it did during Hegseth’s confirmation, Ernst’s judgment has weight. She could lead the effort to oust Hegseth and replace him with a qualified nominee.

Doing so would be another service to her country. The United States is less ready to meet a national security challenge with Hegseth’s unsteady leadership. Anyone who has watched the saga unfold knows Hegseth is the wrong man for the job.

Ernst, no doubt, knows this and should say so. It will have political repercussions, but it’s the right thing to do. That will matter more to Iowa voters than blind loyalty to a damaged secretary who can’t be trusted to keep secure information safe from our adversaries.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com