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The Pentagon has pulled a dozen U.S. Air Force bomber aircraft out of Britain’s Fairford air base. According to sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal and other publications, the U.S. military feared an Iranian drone strike, perhaps modeled on last year’s audacious “Operation Spiderweb,” when the Ukrainians used drones stored in freight containers to launch surprise attacks on Russian aircraft thousands of miles away. If Fairford is any indication, one year later, the United States is still no more capable than Russia of protecting its bases against drone swarms.

That humiliating retreat by the world’s most powerful military came just a few days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest lecture to a military audience in Quantico, Virginia. In his address, Hegseth once again heaped praise on himself for allegedly purging the U.S. Armed Forces of “trannies” and “beardos.” “The ideological clowns are out,” he declared. “The patriotic cowboys are in—with testosterone testing on top.” One wonders what that means and why he is so obsessed with soldiers’ hormones. He announced an effort to promote adoption of new technologies with the help of Elon Musk (whose many defense-related investments make him a walking conflict of interest), drone tycoon Palmer Luckey (another administration crony), and Newt Gingrich (the elderly Republican ex-congressman who seems to have little in the way of technological expertise). Hegseth railed about the treasonous press, trumpeted the alleged successes of his war on Iran, and denied the devastating morale crisis on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln—but had nothing to say about America’s broader strategic goals or its relationship with its many allies around the globe, who are far and away the biggest force multiplier in the U.S. arsenal.

The Pentagon has pulled a dozen U.S. Air Force bomber aircraft out of Britain’s Fairford air base. According to sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal and other publications, the U.S. military feared an Iranian drone strike, perhaps modeled on last year’s audacious “Operation Spiderweb,” when the Ukrainians used drones stored in freight containers to launch surprise attacks on Russian aircraft thousands of miles away. If Fairford is any indication, one year later, the United States is still no more capable than Russia of protecting its bases against drone swarms.

That humiliating retreat by the world’s most powerful military came just a few days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest lecture to a military audience in Quantico, Virginia. In his address, Hegseth once again heaped praise on himself for allegedly purging the U.S. Armed Forces of “trannies”........

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