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>> we are going to be speaking now to taracopp, a pentagon correspondent. welcome to the program. in talking about changes with in the pentagon and the defense department, i want to start with firing of coast guard commandant , linda fagan, the first woman to lead a major military branch or service, i should say, in the united states. tell us what happened, why was she fired? >> she was appointed in 2022 and like you said was the first woman to lead one of the major branches. we have been expecting because of all the campaign rhetoric that some of the heads of the services might be fired, the coast guard had not immediate come to mind, but in announcing the firing they said she had

focused too much on the eye initiatives and had not really shape the coast guard to deal with any sort of migration crisis, not acquiring cutter's fast and not -- and of come that's putting a lot of responsibility on the head of an organization when honestly the acquisition of cutter's is a complicated process that involves, how quickly could the defense mark -- department get the cutter's in place? interestingly enough, the coast guard almost immediately on the 21st put out a press release announcing how quickly they were going to respond to some of the presidents executive orders on border security and that they're going to surge cutter's in personnel and aircraft, not only to the borders which they call now the gulf of america, but also around alaska, puerto rico

and the marianas. so you're seeing just this rapid shift for the services to show they can be responsive to the new commander-in-chief. and they're still concern among the other service branches that some of their leaders may also be still in jeopardy. >> will talk about that, but i just want to go back to what does the coast guard actually do for the border? you mention cutter's, what role do they play in border security, specifically the southern border? >> the coast guard has had a really important role in drug interdiction. there's a lot of videos online of the coast guard basically intercepting small boats that are carrying drugs and trying to get them to the u.s., and there some fairly rogue looking video out there where the axle jump onto high-speed craft. they got that, they're not like customs and border protection at the border itself. they're trying to get people who have hitched a ride on these

small boats and are trying to get into the u.s. through the water, often to florida. >>, not fagan had been very vocal about reducing sexual assault in the coast guard. what do we know about her activities there, and did that influence the decision to fire her? >> that was one of the reasons in the lengthy press release again that she was fired. the coast guard has been dealing with a sexual assault problem for years, all of the services have come a couple of news organizations including ours looks in depth at sexual assault allegations and how they were handled within the coast guard in the last several years. it was also the subject of multiple congressional hearings in the last several years and this was just one of the many reasons that were listed that she was removed. >> the heads of the other

services as far as army, navy, marine corps, air force, what are you hearing about the possibility of them also being fired? >> so everybody is just keeping a really low profile right now. there's been no media engagement and we don't suspect there will be any media engagements right now among the uniformed chiefs, so that's the chief naval officer, general alvin who's the chief of staff of the air force, general george, chief of staff of the army, all of the services right now are trying to show how they would be responsive and meet with the new team. we had yesterday raising some of the acting secretary set of input in place and saw some quick interactions on the border. in the next few hours were going to see the services kind of move forward on enacting president

trump's border security initiative, the last executive order issued on the 20th and kinda put more detail as to what assets will be surged to the southwest border in response to his executive order. host: there have been new allegations against defense secretary pete hegseth regarding abuse of his second wife. he denies those. have you been able to confirm those allegations? >> the story last night was first reported by nbc news. we spoke with the attorney for samantha hegseth and for daniel hegseth, and they gave us the same statements they provided to nbc news. it is really disturbing about this, i don't know if you've had a chance or c-span had a chance to see that yet. it's one of the most disturbing documents i've read in a really long time.

if you have a spouse that according to the allegations needs a comfort or safe word to be able to communicate safely to your family member to help her get out of the house, i don't know how that can just -- i realize that the secretary of confirm has denied these allegations, but that seems like a very far-fetched thing to just make up. a lot of the other allegations in this affidavit kind of a line with some of the reporting we've seen over the last weeks and months of incidences of problematic drinking and some of the things that the incoming secretary of defense, if confirmed, was alleged to say. we were just talking about sexual assault in the military in one of the most disturbing things to me in the affidavit was an allegation that under the influence of alcohol, he was saying that no means yes, and that's exact opposite of what the defense department has been trying to instill in its ranks,

that sexual assault is not permitted in any way, shape, or form, and trying to get this culture of intimidation out of the ranks. host: do we no one these allegations are coming so late in the confirmation process? >> we do. senate democrats have been pretty vocal in their level of dissatisfaction and access to the fbi background check and just how deep the fbi at ground check for repeat -- for pete hegseth went. after the confirmation hearing, there was a request put out by the ranking member for additional information. i think several members kind of alluded to in the confirmation hearing that they knew there was more information out there and that they were pursuing it. and this affidavit was in response to a request for additional information from senator reed. host: we talked about the confirmation for pete hegseth.

currently, who is the acting secretary of defense, and what do we know about him? >> sure, the acting secretary of defense is a manguest: the actif defense is a man named robert salassa as dod employee ever since just after the 9/11 attacks. he is a retired, his time all over the pentagon managing large numbers of people. he is a highly qualified individual, the kind of resume you would expect to see for someone stepping into the role as basically a manager for now. he came from washington headquarters services for his latest role that's basically the umbrella organization of all the support facilities around the washington, d.c. area that helps the pentagon operate, whether that includes the office of

general counsel, whether it includes literally the facilities, folks like thousands of people who work to get the office space up and running, all the communications directorates, even the communications offices is under that office. so he is overseeing -- he has overseen a lot of people for years at this point, but depending on when the confirmation process could happen for hegseth, which is most likely over the weekend, he will not be in this role very long. host: the chairman of the joint chiefs, general c. q. brown, has said he will stay at his post. he attended the inauguration monday. what are you hearing about his future? guest: i was asking about this yesterday. officials in the building that i spoke to said that his interactions with donald trump at the inauguration were generally positive and left everyone feeling a little more confident that