Hegseth says he ‘won’t blink’ in the face of criticism of his leadership

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed back against questions about his leadership Tuesday in the face of criticism from former subordinates who spoke of chaos and dysfunction on his team.

Some members of Congress have called for Hegseth to resign after news reports, starting in The Atlantic magazine in March, that he disclosed sensitive military information about an upcoming strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen in two private chats on the messaging app Signal. The New York Times reported on Sunday that one of those chats included his wife and brother.

Hegseth, in an interview on Fox News, said his critics were people who were disgruntled over the pace of change at the Pentagon, and he insisted that he would not back down. He said that there had been no texting of “war plans” and that only informal and unclassified information related to coordination of news coverage had been shared over Signal. He added that a “serious leak investigation” had been launched.

“President Trump asked me to bring warfighting back to the Pentagon every single day, right? That is our focus, and if people don’t like it, they can come after me,” he said. “I haven’t blinked, and I won’t blink because this job is too big and too important.”

Trump, a frequent watcher of Fox News, defended his defense secretary on Monday and said he was doing a great job.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.