News over the weekend that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s wife Jennifer was included in a second group chat where he shared sensitive military operations details has focused attention on the prominent role she has occupied at the Pentagon without being formally employed during her husband’s short tenure running the US military.

When President Donald Trump chose Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary, incoming officials knew they’d need to surround the inexperienced Fox News host with accomplished staff who could handle the nation’s largest bureaucracy.

John Ullyot, a former Pentagon spokesperson under Hegseth and a White House official during Trump’s first term, wrote that “the last month has been a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon — and it’s becoming a real problem for the administration”, in a stinging op-ed in Politico this week.