Vice President JD Vance is privately freaking out over how Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon has handled President Donald Trump’s war on Iran.
Two senior administration officials told The Atlantic that Vance, 41, has been skeptical of the Pentagon’s information about the war. The vice president has also shared concerns with Trump, 79, about the stockpiles of certain missile systems, sources familiar with the matter told the magazine.
The vice president “asks a lot of probing questions about our strategic planning,” a White House official told the outlet.
Vance’s concerns are his own and are not an accusation of Hegseth or General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, misinforming the president, his advisers told the magazine, adding that he is not trying to create divisions among the president’s war Cabinet.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told the Daily Beast in a statement: “Secretary Hegseth and Vice President Vance share an outstanding working relationship grounded in deep mutual respect and alignment. Within President Trump’s national security team, rigorous brainstorming and asking sharp questions is precisely how professionals deliver results. It is responsible, high-caliber teamwork, and nothing less. Secretary Hegseth and Pentagon leadership consistently provide the President with the complete, unvarnished picture so he can make the best choices for America’s security and success.”
“President Trump loves Secretary Hegseth and thinks he is doing a phenomenal job leading the Department of War,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Beast in a statement. “The Secretary is a vital and trusted member of the President’s core national security team.”
Vance’s office did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
The defense secretary’s frequent assertions that the U.S. military operation is an overwhelming success have been contradicted by intelligence assessments to the contrary.
A CBS News report last week, citing multiple U.S. officials briefed on intelligence, found that around half of Iran’s ballistic missile stockpiles and launch systems were still intact since the ceasefire began on April 7, and that around 60 percent of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ naval forces, including its small fast-attack gunboats, were also still intact.
The report also found that the nation still retains about two-thirds of its air force.
The U.S. has also already depleted more than half of its prewar supply of four key munitions that would be essential to fighting future conflicts, such as hypothetical wars with Russia or China, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
However, the president said early last month that the U.S. advanced weapons stockpile is “virtually unlimited.”
Hegseth, 45, seems to have Trump’s ear. His claim that the U.S. military has “completely obliterated” Tehran’s naval forces has been frequently echoed by the president.
“Pete’s TV experience has made him really skilled at knowing how to talk to Trump, how Trump thinks,” a former Trump official told the magazine.
Both Vance and Hegseth served in the Iraq War but have very different perspectives on military action.
While hawkish Hegseth has argued against “stupid” rules of engagement and celebrated his department’s extrajudicial attacks on small boats off the coast of South America, Vance has maintained a much more isolationist view of conflicts overseas.
