OPINION:
I was surprised and disappointed by Ben Wolfgang’s front-page article on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (“Top officers lose trust in Hegseth,” Oct. 21). It consisted almost entirely of anonymous complainers or left-leaning pundits from the Brookings Institution making typical elitist remarks.
In the view of these people, Mr. Hegseth just doesn’t understand how things work in Washington. For example, they say he has a “junior officer mentality.” In truth, too many lives are lost because old-fogey generals want to fight the last war, the war before that, or the one before that.
As a news article, this story fell below what I would consider journalistic standards. Even if Mr. Wolfgang believed these anonymous complaints to be trustworthy, he should have at least tried to interview a broader cross-section of military members, many of whom I understand welcome the changes Mr. Hegseth is bringing.
JAMES RYAN
Silver Spring, Maryland
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