Tension is bubbling in Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon.
The defense secretary’s senior advisers are falling further apart, causing rifts and scandals that are attracting the ire of the White House despite attempts to reset Hegseth’s team, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
“There’s a cold war that exists in between flash points,” one anonymous source told the Post while recounting flaring tempers on Hegseth’s team. “It’s unsettling at times.”
One of the more prominent rifts is between Eric Geressy, Hegseth’s former mentor, and Ricky Buria, a junior military assistant whom Hegseth tried and failed to morph into his chief of staff.
Shortly after The Atlantic revealed that its editor in chief had been included in a Signal chat where top Trump officials—Hegseth included—discussed sensitive war plans regarding the imminent bombing of Yemen, Geressy expressed frustration at the administration’s decision to rely on the unsecured and unclassified communication app.
Geressy has also voiced “disgust” at White House reports describing Buria as “self important” and willing to ostracize other officials in order to snag more time with Hegseth or the White House, according to the Post.
“Friction between the two senior advisers remains palpable, those familiar with the situation say, and is emblematic of the instability that reigns at the Pentagon as Hegseth attempts to regain his footing after several scandals that irked the White House, alarmed Congress and left the former Fox News personality on the defensive,” the Post reported, noting that several current and former defense officials weren’t sure how long Hegseth could survive in the role amid the searing divisions.
The story followed more bad news for Hegseth Tuesday, after The Guardian reported that the White House had “lost confidence” in his investigation into leaked details regarding U.S. military options to claim the Panama Canal.
Hegseth had used the press leak to justify expelling three top aides last month, but Trump’s advisers raised flags after claims emerged that information of the leak had been obtained via a blatantly unconstitutional National Security Agency wiretap—a scandal considerably worse than the initial leak.
That claim fueled a “breakdown in trust” between the Pentagon and the White House, The Guardian reported, with Trump advisers suggesting that they “no longer have any idea about who or what to believe,” with at least one adviser interpreting the botched investigation as a way to nix defense aides that had reportedly been involved in infighting with Hegseth’s first chief of staff, Joe Kasper.
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