Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday called for Sen. Mark Kelly to be investigated over comments he made about U.S. weapon stockpiles, marking the second time the Pentagon chief has opened a review into the Democratic senator.
Hegseth slammed the retired Navy captain and former astronaut for expressing concern on CBS’ “Face the Nation” over U.S. weapons stockpiles amid the Iran war, saying Kelly was “blabbing on TV” about a classified Pentagon briefing.
“Did he violate his oath…again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review,” Hegseth posted on social media Sunday evening.
Kelly said earlier Sunday that following briefings by the Pentagon on munitions, including Tomahawks, ATACMS and Patriot rounds, he found it “shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines.”
“We’ve expended a lot of munitions. And that means the American people are less safe. Whether it’s a conflict in the western Pacific with China or somewhere else in the world, the munitions are depleted,” Kelly, who sits on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan.
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Kelly responded to Hegseth’s post with a video of the pair at a recent Senate hearing. “We had this conversation in a public hearing a week ago and you said it would take ‘years’ to replenish some of these stockpiles. That’s not classified, it’s a quote from you,” Kelly posted, adding that the “war is coming at a serious cost.”
CNN has reached out to Kelly’s office for additional comment. The Pentagon, when asked for comment, referred CNN to Hegseth’s post.
Hegseth’s call to investigate the Arizona senator for a second time comes days after a federal appeals court appeared ready to reject the defense secretary’s effort to punish Kelly over his call to U.S. service members to refuse illegal orders.
The call, which came in a November video posted by Kelly and five other Democrats with a history of military or intelligence service, drew the ire of both Hegseth and President Donald Trump.
Kelly sued Hegseth in January after the defense secretary announced the Pentagon would pursue administrative action against the Arizona senator, including reducing his last military rank — which would lower the pay he receives as a retired Navy captain — and issuing a letter of censure.
A majority of judges on a three-member panel at the DC U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week threw cold water on arguments pushed by the Justice Department to revive Hegseth’s plans, which were shut down earlier this year by a federal judge who said they were unconstitutionally retaliatory.
Kelly’s comments on weapons stockpiles come more than two months into the U.S.’ war with Iran. CNN previously reported that the U.S. military has significantly depleted its stockpile of key missiles during the war and created a “near-term risk” of running out of ammunition in a future conflict should one arise in the next few years, according to experts and three people familiar with recent internal Defense Department stockpile assessments.
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As of April 21, the U.S. military expended at least 45% of its stockpile of Precision Strike Missiles; at least half of its inventory of THAAD missiles, which are designed to intercept ballistic missiles; and nearly 50% of its stockpile of Patriot air defense interceptor missiles, according to an analysis conducted last month by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Those numbers closely align with classified Pentagon data about U.S. stockpiles, according to the sources familiar with the assessment.
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