He made an impassioned case for decorating the American pilots who had just completed a risky military strike on Iranian nuclear targets. Even former President Donald Trump got in on the act with an announcement that perfectly summed up the pilots’ mission. He called their work “legendary,” putting their record in stone. Hegseth, along with General Dan Caine, unequivocally justified the U.S. strikes. They moved fast to distance the concerns highlighted by media reports that cast doubt on the operation’s effectiveness.
In the words of Hegseth, the pilots completed a daunting mission requiring 36 hours of continuous flight deep into enemy territory. He emphasized their determination, stating, “After 36 hours of dangerously flying through Enemy Territory, they landed, they knew the Success was LEGENDARY.” He pointed out that only two days later, these same pilots faced a media onslaught. Perhaps unsurprisingly, outlets, including CNN and The New York Times, were some of the critics. Hegseth took issue with this reporting, arguing that it downplayed the pilots’ achievements.
General Caine described the operation against Iranian nuclear sites as “Operation Midnight Hammer,” characterizing it as the “culmination of 15 years of incredible work” by personnel at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Caine offered up tons of helpful advice on how to plan and run the operation. He emphasized the deep level of confidence on the team’s part that their targeting methodology for Fordow, an essential nuclear installation in Iran, was a success.
“In the case of Fordow, the DTRA team understood with a high degree of confidence the elements of the target required to kill its functions, and the weapons were designed, planned and delivered to ensure that they achieve the effects in the mission space,” – Gen Dan Caine
Hegseth bolstered this claim by airing test footage of the so-called “bunker buster” bombs dropped in the strikes. He credited the success of their mission to use of the cutting edge AI modeling that directed their operations. He added, questions about battle damage assessments must go to the intelligence community.
During the briefing, Hegseth expressed his lack of awareness regarding any intelligence indicating that Iran had relocated highly enriched uranium. He stated firmly, “I’m not aware of any intelligence … that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise.”
To counter these claims, skepticism quickly emerged from across the spectrum about the effectiveness of the strikes. Hegseth took this skepticism head on. He implied that constant deliberate leaking from federal government circles are efforts to politicize and hobble the success of U.S. military action. He warned about the chilling effect leaks like this can have on what the public believes.
“Time and time again, classified information is leaked or peddled for political purposes to try to make the president look bad, and what’s really happening is you’re undermining the success of our incredible pilots,” – Pete Hegseth
Enter Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence. She announced that “new intelligence” estimates it will take Iran years to restore its three nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. This narrative cuts against Hegseth’s justification of the military action as a “decisive” strike against Iran’s burgeoning nuclear ambitions.
General Caine went on to evaluate the seemingly most successful tools utilized to disable Iran’s nuclear capabilities during this hypothetical engagement “Operation Midnight Hammer.” This strategy, he said, takes advantage of both over-pressure and blast effects. This tactic is meant to enter into open tunnels and destroy command and control hardware located in those facilities.
“The majority of the damage we assess based on our extensive modeling of the blast,” – Gen Dan Caine
The briefing ended with both Hegseth and Caine promising to be as transparent and accurate as possible in reporting military successes. The storytelling mouths Their focus on the pilots’ hard work and success provided a much-needed counter-narrative to negative critiques appearing from several national news outlets.