Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is in hot water – again
Sources & Methods
NPR
4.9 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth was already facing questions for his role in the September 2 strikes on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean. Then on Thursday, a Pentagon report dropped that says he risked a United States bombing mission in Yemen when he shared classified plans on Signal.
Host Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman and national security correspondent Quil Lawrence about the controversies Hegseth keeps finding himself in.
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Transcript
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| 1:20.2 | I got calls from like three or four military people who are astounded and angry about this. |
| 1:26.4 | And they said, if I had done this, I would at least lose my |
| 1:28.9 | security clearance, maybe go to jail. Did the Secretary of Defense put American lives at risk? |
| 1:36.4 | A new Pentagon report says he did. And what role did he play in the killing of two people |
| 1:42.2 | on what he says was a drugboat in the Caribbean. |
| 1:45.7 | This is sources and methods from NPR. |
| 1:50.8 | I'm Mary Louise Kelly every Thursday on this podcast. |
| 1:54.1 | We look at some of the week's biggest national security stories with the NPR reporters who are out there covering them. |
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