'Different Spanks for Different Ranks': Hegseth's Signal Scandal Would Put Regular Troops in the Brig

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth arrives at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, February 25, 2025. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant ShaTyra Cox)

Posted: March 27, 2025 --- Military.com | By Steve Beynon , Konstantin Toropin , Drew F. Lawrence and Rebecca Kheel

Published March 26, 2025, at 6:52pm ET

A bombshell report revealing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other Trump administration Cabinet officials discussed battle plans against Yemen's Houthi rebels via the encrypted Signal app -- and added a journalist to that thread by accident -- has raised eyebrows across Washington DC. But the unprecedented violation of operational security protocols has also got the attention of the troops Hegseth oversees as the civilian leader of the Pentagon. "How are soldiers supposed to interpret this?" an Army brigade commander asked Military.com on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation.

"It's a cartoonish lapse in security. We still need to take this stuff seriously, but for a while, any security briefing will be peppered with jokes about the secretary of defense." Despite what amounts to among the most startling security snafus in recent memory -- one that would almost certainly trigger severe disciplinary action for lower-level personnel -- Hegseth and others at the top may yet walk away unscathed, despite growing and increasingly heated calls from Democrats for the Defense Secretary's resignation.

Military.com spoke with nearly a dozen service members ranging from junior to senior ranks, many of whom deal with information security. All noted that, if they breached protocols to the degree Hegseth and other administration officials did, they'd likely have their clearances revoked, lose their jobs or end up with jail time. "Pete Hegseth is a f---ing liar," U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., an Army veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.

"This is so clearly classified info he recklessly leaked that could've gotten our pilots killed. He needs to resign in disgrace immediately." The flouting of basic security during the talk of Yemen strikes has caught the ire of even some Republican senators who have generally kept their grievances against the Trump administration low key, while top administration officials -- including Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard -- have tap-danced around tough questions from lawmakers and the press.

Hegseth, however, outright lied in a response to questions on Tuesday and Wednesday, denying that the messages contained airstrike plans and calling the incident a "hoax." The Atlantic, which published the original story by Jeffrey Goldberg detailing the Signal conversation, on Wednesday released the entire Signal chat between Hegseth, Gabbard, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and others.

It revealed Hegseth had outlined a series of airstrikes in Yemen that would typically be classified at the highest levels. His handling of the information goes against core military training. Protecting sensitive information, particularly as it relates to combat, is considered sacrosanct across all ranks, from a newly minted private to the most seasoned General.

Hegseth, despite having a relatively average National Guard military career concluding with the midlevel major rank, would have had those principles drilled into him. Service members also have annual training on cyber hygiene and information security, reinforcing to them to be careful with whom information is shared and to keep sensitive information off of commercial apps and personal devices.

In many situations, the services are overly protective of information and abuse protection rules for documents to shield the Pentagon from scrutiny. Even benign information can be under some level of classification. After Military.com reported a botched recruiting effort featuring The Rock, the service's marketing arm started putting much of its documentation under Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) -- to shield it from public view.

The contrast between Hegseth's nonchalance and the military's traditionally hardline approach to security breaches is also glaring. Others who have leaked highly sensitive information have faced steep consequences. Former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira was sentenced to 15 years in prison for leaking classified intelligence on Discord, an online platform popular with gamers.

If a junior service member had engaged in a leak of strike plans for Yemen, legal experts say, a court-martial would likely be the immediate response. "It's disheartening not to see others held accountable, but I don't think it changes the rules for us at all," a service member who works in cybersecurity said. "Whenever there's a failure to secure classified information, the punishments seem to be commensurate with the rank, inverse of how they should be."

Eric Carpenter, a law professor at Florida International University and a former Army attorney, said that such a breach would almost certainly result in a court-martial if it involved a service member. "The old phrase is 'different spanks for different ranks,'" he said bluntly, acknowledging that high-ranking officials like Hegseth are being insulated from the consequences that would swiftly befall the rank and file. "With privilege comes the ability to get out of consequences," he added.

Another result of this scandal could also be greater challenges for commanders in reprimanding their own troops for failures in maintaining operational security and safeguarding classified information. Just a week before the Atlantic story broke, the Pentagon's top spokesman, Sean Parnell, told reporters that Hegseth believes in accountability all the way up the chain of command -- at least when talking about the disastrous and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan conducted under the Biden administration.

"If you have a private that loses a sensitive item, that loses night vision goggles, that loses a weapon, you can bet that that private is going to be held accountable," Parnell said, adding that "the same and equal standards must apply to senior military leaders."  However, as Hegseth digs in and assures reporters that "I know what I am doing" in response to questions about his behavior in the chat, he may be sending a different message to the force.

The only people who could realistically hold Hegseth accountable are members of Congress -- largely requiring the support of his own party -- and Trump. Republicans are not going as far as calling on Hegseth to resign or be fired yet. But, in a sign of the seriousness of the breach, some are going further in demanding accountability than they have so far in the 2^ndTrump administration.

In particular, the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is pinning blame on Hegseth and teaming up with Democrats on the committee to demand answers. In a conversation with reporters Wednesday, committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said he and the committee's top Democrat, U.S. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, will be requesting an inspector general investigation of the episode.

They will also be requesting the administration send a senior official to brief the committee -- in a classified setting -- so they can get the "ground truth" and confirm that the screenshots published by The Atlantic were accurate, Wicker said. "The information, as published recently, appears to me to be of such a sensitive nature that, based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classified," Wicker said. "I make a lot of mistakes in my life, and I've found that it's best when I just own up to them and say, 'I'm human. I made a mistake,'" Wicker added when asked by Military.com what consequences Hegseth should face.