National-security experts heap criticism on Pete Hegseth for launching Signalgate, calling for his resignation and prosecution under the Espionage Act

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National-security experts yesterday blasted U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for his actions that led to the Signalgate leak scandal. From a report at Raw Story under the headline "'Hegseth is a liar': Experts erupt over new revelations on Signal war plans scandal":

Revelations that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared plans that detailed the exact timing of planned military attacks over a Signal group chat created a firestorm of criticism from national security experts on Wednesday.

National security attorney Bradley Moss took to BlueSky to run down why Hegseth's claim that no classified information was sent over the channel simply doesn't hold water.

"In my professional opinion, having represented officials within the IC for over 15 years, there is no realistic or credible argument that these details were unclassified," he argued. "These are military operational details and real time intelligence updates. None of this is information that would be available to individuals without cleared access to these details. Disclosure of this information to foreign entities absolutely could have resulted in the deaths of Americans."

He added that it appears Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz "committed serious security violations" and said that "if any of my clients did this, they would likely already be suspended and just waiting on the paperwork firing them and revoking their clearances."

Other experts took even stronger views, demanding that Hegseth resign and pointing to an attempted cover-up of the scandal, and criminal activity:

Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), a former military intelligence officer, argued that "Hegseth must resign IMMEDIATELY" and further charged that "this is a cover-up at the highest levels of government."

"This level of operational detail — timing, strike package, battle damage assessment, and more — is 100% definitively, unequivocally CLASSIFIED information," he explained. "Sharing that on an unsecured network, EVEN WITHOUT A REPORTER, is a crime and put the lives of service members at risk."

Current and former members of Congress were highly critical of Hegseth, Raw Story reports:

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who like Ryan is a military veteran, said "Hegseth is a f------ liar" while adding that the information he shared "is so clearly classified info he recklessly leaked that could’ve gotten our pilots killed."

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) also drew on his past military experience to conclude that Hegseth deserved to not only be fired but also prosecuted.

"Of course Hegseth and crew included classified plans over Signal," he wrote. "As a former USAF mission planner, time over targets (TOTs) & packages are definitely classified- if not, the enemy can kill our folks. This should be prosecuted under the Espionage Act of 1917."

Ret. Admiral James Stavridis, meanwhile, highlighted an overlooked detail of The Atlantic's reporting on the administration's use of Signal to share war plans.

"Signal chat was set to disappear in 1 week," he observed. "Quite possible that no one in the administration still had a copy when responding and testifying yesterday. Just another reason classified material shouldn't be handled on Signal."