Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out Thursday at the media, saying reporters used an early intelligence assessment of the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites to sow doubt about the mission’s effectiveness.
President Trump’s decision to launch Operation Midnight Hammer, which Mr. Hegseth called “the most complex and secretive military operation in history,” paved the way for the current ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel, he said during a Thursday morning press conference at the Pentagon.
“President Trump created the conditions to end the war, decimating, obliterating and destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities,” Mr. Hegseth said.
Operation Midnight Hammer included seven B-2 Spirit bombers that flew east from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to Iran.
Meanwhile, another group of B-2s headed over the Pacific as decoys. They required in-flight refuelings as the bombers crossed the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
The B-2 bombers dropped a total of 14 GBU-57 “Massive Ordnance Penetrator” weapons during the mission.
SEE ALSO: Hegseth returns fire after being scolded for saying ‘boys in bombers’
The defense secretary criticized the “fawning” press coverage of the Defense Intelligence Agency leak. He said that some reporters relied on half-truths and leaked information to cause doubt and manipulate the public.
“It was leaked because someone had an agenda to try and muddy the waters to try and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful,” Mr. Hegseth said. “Because [the press] cheers against Trump so hard, it’s in your DNA, your blood, to cheer against Trump. Because you want him not to be successful so bad … you have to hope that maybe [the strikes] weren’t effective.”
Operation Midnight Hammer’s roots go back more than 15 years, when an official from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a Pentagon office that counters weapons of mass destruction, was taken to a secure room in a non-disclosed location and briefed about a major construction project in the mountains of Iran.
“He was shown some photos and some highly classified intelligence,” said Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “He was tasked to study the facility [and] work with the intelligence community to understand it.”
The DTRA official, who has not been identified, was soon joined by another agency staffer. They spent a decade and a half “living and breathing” what they quickly determined was a critical element of Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program, Gen. Caine said.
“You do not build a multiple-layered underground bunker complex with vent centrifuges and other equipment in a mountain for any peaceful purpose,” he said.
The two DTRA officials pored over the site geology data, the weather, and the construction materials that were used. They examined the exhaust shaft, the electrical systems, and the environmental control systems. Every piece of equipment coming in or going out was closely scrutinized.
“They literally dreamed about this target at night when they slept. They thought about it driving back and forth to work,” Gen. Caine said. “They realized we did not have a weapon that could adequately strike and kill this target.”
They worked with the defense industry and tactical experts to develop the bunker-busting GBU-57 bomb. It was designed with one mission in mind: Take out Iran’s Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant. They conducted hundreds of test shots over the years to determine exactly what was needed to accomplish a future bombing mission.
“The DTRA team understood with a high degree of confidence the elements of the target. The weapons were designed, planned, and delivered to ensure they achieved the effects in the mission space,” Gen. Caine said.
They became the biggest users of supercomputer hours in the United States with their modeling and simulation efforts to design the bespoke bomb and develop the mission, officials said.
The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is the sole aircraft capable of flying the GBU-57 into battle and dropping it on a target.
In June 2008, the DTRA analysts noticed three holes being excavated at the Fordow site. Pentagon officials said they were the main exhaust shaft reaching down to the underground nuclear facility and a pair of additional ventilation shafts.
The Iranians tried to cover up the ventilation shafts with concrete slabs a few days before President Trump ordered the mission.
The Operation Midnight Hammer planners accounted for the last-minute effort. The first bunker-buster bomb easily brushed off Iran’s efforts to protect the vital ventilation shafts, officials said.
The remaining bombs penetrated the now-open shafts at a speed of more than one thousand feet per second and exploded inside the mission space, Gen. Caine said.
“All six weapons at Fordow went exactly where they intended to go,” the general said. “The primary kill mechanism in the mission space was a mix of overpressure and blast ripping through the open tunnels and destroying critical hardware.”
The B-2 bomber crews came from the Air Force active duty ranks and the Missouri Air National Guard. The most junior flyer was a captain while the most senior was a colonel. Both men and women were involved in the bombing mission, officials said.
Gen. Caine said, the B-2 crews told him after the mission that it “felt like the Super Bowl.”
“Our forces remain on a high state of readiness in the region,” he said. “Our adversaries around the world should know that there are other DTRA members out there studying targets for the same amount of time and will continue to do so.”
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.