Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday accused Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) of divulging classified information during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“‘Captain’ Mark Kelly strikes again,” Hegseth wrote in response to a post by “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan on the social platform X detailing what Kelly told her about U. S. stockpiles, which Kelly said the U. S. war with Iran has reduced.
“Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath…again?” Hegseth wrote.
The Defense secretary added that the Pentagon’s legal counsel “will review” the Democratic lawmaker’s remarks.
Kelly, a retired Navy captain, during his CBS interview said that the Pentagon briefed him and his Senate colleagues on how the U. S. war with Iran has impacted the country’s weapons stockpiles.
“It’s been pretty detailed on Tomahawks, ATACMS, SM-3, THAAD rounds, Patriot rounds, those interceptor rounds to defend ourselves,” he said of the briefing. “And the numbers are, I think it’s fair to say it’s shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines, because this president got our country into this without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline, and because of that, we’ve expended a lot of munitions.”
As for how long it will take to replenish those reserves, Kelly said, “We’re talking about years.”
Kelly and the Pentagon are already embroiled in a legal fight that saw the Arizona senator sue the department in January over Hegseth reducing the retired captain’s rank. Hegseth also sent Kelly a formal letter of censure. That was in response to Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers, all with either military or intelligence backgrounds, releasing a video in November that urged U. S. service members and intelligence officials to refuse illegal orders.
A federal judge in February blocked the Pentagon’s actions against Kelly, asserting that retired service members had First Amendment protections.
On Thursday, a three-judge panel on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit appeared skeptical of the government’s argument in the case.
Later in the evening on Sunday, Kelly replied to Hegseth’s post on X by sharing a video of Hegseth testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 30 regarding the Pentagon’s fiscal 2027 budget.
During that hearing, Kelly asked Hegseth how many years it will take for the U. S. military to replenish its stockpiles.
“I think that’s exactly the right question, too, senator,” the Pentagon chief replied. “Because the time frame we were existing under was unacceptable. And what this budget does, I mean, months and years. I mean, we’re building new plants in real time.”
Hegseth added that the specific time frame for replenishment “depends on the weapon system.” He also criticized the Biden administration for sending weapons to Ukraine.
“We had this conversation in a public hearing a week ago and you said it would take ‘years’ to replenish some of these stockpiles,” Kelly wrote of Hegseth’s remarks. “That’s not classified, it’s a quote from you. This war is coming at a serious cost and you and the president still haven’t explained to the American people what the goal is.”
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