Sen. Mark Kelly walks past Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine before the start of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, April 30, 2026.Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
Defense Chief Pete Hegseth stated the Department of Defense will investigate if Sen. Mark Kelly improperly revealed confidential details when the Arizona Democrat, also a retired Navy captain, voiced worries regarding the burden the conflict with Iran has imposed on U.S. weaponry reserves.
Hegseth, in a social media message Sunday night, criticized Kelly for "talking openly on TV" after the senator made an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" that morning and addressed burdens on the Defense Department's ammunition supply.
"'Captain' Mark Kelly is at it again," Hegseth posted. "He's now talking openly on TV (incorrectly & foolishly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Department of Defense briefing he attended. Did he break his promise … once more? @DeptofWar legal team will analyze."
Sen. Mark Kelly walks past Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine before the start of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, April 30, 2026.Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
During the CBS interview, Kelly alluded to recent public Defense Department briefings to Congress, which he claims showed that U.S. stores of critical munitions, including Tomahawk and ATACMS missiles, are being swiftly used up during the conflict with Iran.
A Defense Department assessment of Kelly's remarks would represent the second instance Hegseth has aimed to reprimand him, the initial one occurring after Kelly and a few other Democratic military and intelligence service veterans released a video advising U.S. soldiers to reject unlawful directives. Hegseth sought to downgrade Kelly, which would diminish his military retirement benefits.
A three-judge group in the U.S. Court of Appeals voiced uncertainty regarding Hegseth’s attempt to penalize Kelly over the remarks during spoken arguments the prior week.
The Defense Department indicates it has struck approximately 13,000 targets in the conflict with Iran. In some instances, those targets might require multiple strikes, it noted. Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III informed lawmakers in late April that the conflict had amounted to a minimum of $25 billion thus far, mentioning that much of that sum was for ammunition usage.
"It's astonishing how significantly we've diminished these supplies," Kelly remarked.
Following Hegseth's warning, Kelly responded on social media, displaying a segment from the prior week's Senate Armed Services Committee session in which Hegseth is presented stating it would require years to restore supplies to levels prior to the conflict.
"We had this discussion in a public session a week prior and you stated it would require 'years' to replenish some of these supplies," Kelly stated. "That's not confidential, it's a quotation from you."
An assessment from the Center for Strategic and International Studies discovered that the U.S. has utilized half of its supply of munitions battling Iran, and that it could demand as long as four years for the pre-conflict inventory to be refilled.
The Department of Defense briefs congressional members on confidential materials in private, though it's unclear whether Kelly infringed any disclosure regulations, as he didn’t delve into particulars on the quantity of weaponry employed or remaining in the CBS interview.
Hegseth has asserted the U.S. possesses adequate ammunition to endure combat against Iran, though much of the apprehension within defense sectors is concentrated less on Tehran and more on the Department of Defense's capacity to react to another large-scale confrontation.
"That signifies the American populace is less secure. Be it a confrontation with China or somewhere else globally, the munitions are diminished," Kelly stated on CBS.
The Defense Department had already been contending with escalating worries regarding its weapon reserves and the speed at which industry can restock munitions, with the war with Iran substantially intensifying those worries.
Those worries arise as the Department of Defense advocates for an unprecedented $1.5 trillion defense fund in the coming year, roughly a 50% increase over current expenditure thresholds, with a notable segment allocated for munitions output and cheaper, mass-manufactured drone systems. Nevertheless, the expenditure strategy was generally finalized prior to the war commencing and doesn’t entirely consider the strain the war is imposing on U.S. inventories.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com