Letter: Hegseth: Department of Hypocrisy

I found it interesting the Secretary of the Department of Defense has taken stringent measures against the open meetings between the senior members of the military and the open press of various news outlets. In his own words, "While the department remains committed to transparency, the department is equally obligated to protect (classified intelligence information) and sensitive information, the unauthorized disclosure of which could put the lives of U.S. service members in danger." Regarding Mr. Hegseth’s claim, I respectfully submit that his limited use of the Signal app (continuing?) is causing more harm to service members that are actively engaging in combat than the usual interplay between journalists and military members; also since all senior staff and their offices are off limits to journalists – except in rare cases such as being assigned a “minder” to escort and monitor the information exchanged – I must take it to mean that there exists a certain amount of trust lost between Mr. Hegseth and his staff who might be leaking such information.