Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is under fire after six U.S. service members lost their lives in an Iranian drone strike on what is being called a makeshift office space that had fortified walls but lacked a fortified ceiling.

The Americans “were killed in a strike on a tactical operations center at the Shuaiba port in Kuwait, one of several U.S.-allied countries in the Persian Gulf region that have faced intense Iranian missile and drone attacks since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran early Saturday,” CBS News reported, adding that “three U.S. military officials questioned the assertion that the building was adequately fortified.”

The three officials, “told CBS News … that prior to the attack, there were discussions on the ground about whether the tactical operations center in question should not have been used, as it concentrated too many U.S. troops in a location that wasn’t defendable.”

Two sources also told CBS News that “they did not recall hearing the warning sirens that are commonly associated with counter-battery systems designed to detect incoming enemy ordnance that ultimately killed the service members.”

“They also said that the warning siren had worked all week prior to the strike on the tactical operations center, but in prior incidents, some of the drones were already inside the base before the siren would sound.”

Requests were made for more protection to defeat incoming drones but were not provided.

“We basically had no drone defeat capability,” one source said.

Intelligence and foreign policy analyst Malcolm Nance blasted Secretary Hegseth over the lost lives.

“This is criminal incompetence,” Nance wrote. “This is on Hegseth and far worse than Benghazi. Far. Worse.”

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Just one day after signaling it would stand down in its fight with law firms that refuse to yield to President Donald Trump, the administration abruptly reversed course and moved to renew its defense of the president’s executive orders.

“The administration told a court on Monday that it was abandoning its defense of executive orders targeting the firms,” The New York Times reports. “But on Tuesday, the Justice Department appeared to abruptly change its position.”

According to the Times, the situation is currently “fluid,” as the administration has not indicated what legal strategy it will now utilize, nor has the court ruled that it would allow the Department of Justice to reverse course.

The administration on Monday had asked an appeals court if it could drop its appeal after law firms had won their case in court, an apparent signal that it did not believe the executive orders could withstand scrutiny.

“But on Tuesday morning, the Justice Department appeared to have abruptly changed its position, according to the people, the Times noted. “In an email to the four firms contesting the orders, a department official apologized for the short notice and said it would file a motion to withdraw its voluntary dismissal.”

On Monday, before the administration’s reversal, the Times reported that the administration had “abandoned its attempts to impose potentially crippling executive orders against law firms that refused to capitulate to the president, walking away from its appeal of victories the firms had won against the White House.”

Calling it “the White House’s most significant acknowledgment that the executive orders cannot be successfully defended in court,” the Times reported that the “move is particularly striking given that some firms opted to reach deals in a bid to head off executive orders that President Trump’s Justice Department said it would no longer stand behind.”

The Bulwark’s Sam Stein commented on the latest development: “A reversal on the reversal as the attacks on Big Law are now back on, apparently.”

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U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem rejected an opportunity to retract her allegations that the two American citizens shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in January, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, were “domestic terrorists.”

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Secretary Noem, instead of retracting her statements as Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL) suggested, attempted to blame federal agents on the ground for the “domestic terrorist” labels.

“You and your agency rushed to brand these victims as, quote, domestic terrorists,” Senator Durbin told Noem on Tuesday. “We have ample video evidence and eyewitness testimony proving you are wrong. Your statements caused immeasurable pain to these families. Let me give you an opportunity to do the right thing. Do you retract these statements identifying these individuals as domestic terrorists?”

“You know, Senator Durbin,” Noem replied, “when we have these situations happen, we always offer our condolences to those families, and I offer mine as well.” She called the situations “tragic.”

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“What I will say is, we always work to provide the American people with as much information as possible, that we’re relying on reports from the ground, and from agents that are there, and working to be transparent, and will continue to do all that we can to provide the accurate information and the facts to people, as we can.”

Critics blasted the DHS Secretary.

Republican former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock said it was “outrageous” that Noem “continues to lie” about the victims. “She should be fired or impeached. She’s unfit.”

Sen. Durbin: “You and your agency rushed to brand these victims as domestic terrorists…Do you retract these statements identifying these individuals as domestic terrorists?”

Noem: *does not retract her statement* pic.twitter.com/dD9YPq8RSb

— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) March 3, 2026

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