A fmr #AirForce fighter pilot, Maj Anthony Bourke, added: “When you disclose operational security, people can get killed.” He said that “these things are not taken lightly. I have never met anybody in the #military who does not know this.”

#Hegseth, a fmr #FoxNews weekend host, served as a #NationalGuard infantryman.

Cmdr Parker Kuldau, a fmr #Navy F/A18 pilot, called Hegseth’s disclosures, & subsequent response to them, “infuriating.”

In #AircraftCarrier “ready rooms,”where flight squadrons spend their time when not in the air, crews burn instructions to destroy them.
“It’s important to understand the degree that #OPSEC is involved in every aspect of your life on an aircraft carrier. Red Sea ops are conducted in complete silence—no one is talking on the radio. Because everything can be heard by somebody,”said fmr #Navy Capt Joseph Capalbo, who commanded a carrier air wing & 2 F/A18 squadrons, referencing operational security.

“We intentionally don’t share plans w/people who don’t need to know,” said one #Navy F/A18 pilot, who has flown frequently in missions in the Middle East. “You don’t share what time we’re supposed to show up over a target. You don’t want to telegraph that we’re about to show up on someone’s doorstep; that’s putting your crew at risk.” He & several other current & fmr pilots spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals from the #Pentagon & from #Trump allies.

Worse, they said, is that…they can no longer be certain the #Pentagon is focused on their safety when they strap into cockpits.

“The whole point about aviation safety is that you have to have the humility to understand that you are imperfect…Everybody makes mistakes. But ultimately, if you can’t admit when you’re wrong, you’re going to kill somebody because your ego is too big,”said Lt John Gadzinski, a ret #Navy F14 pilot who flew combat missions from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf.

The news that snr ofcls in the #Trump admin discussed plans on #Signal, a commercial messaging app, for an impending attack angered & bewildered those who have taken to the air on behalf of the #US.

The mistaken inclusion of the editor of #TheAtlantic in the chat & #Hegseth’s insistence that he did nothing wrong by disclosing the secret plans upend decades of #military doctrine about #OperationalSecurity, a dozen #AirForce & #Navy fighter pilots said.