Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was widely roasted after eagle-eyed social media users couldn't help but notice a glaring and fittingly Nazi-esque typo on Hegseth's placard during President Donald Trump's Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Hegseth’s nameplate listed his position as “Secretary of War,” reflecting Trump’s effort to rechristen the Pentagon with an old-world title for the Defense Department.
Except the word "Secretary" was written as "SSecretary"—a typo that brings to mind the Nazis.
The Schutzstaffel (SS) served as the Nazi regime’s elite guard in Adolf Hitler’s Germany. The SS ultimately spearheaded the “Final Solution,” overseeing the mass murder of European Jews—parallels that critics have drawn when discussing the Trump administration's harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Hegseth had earlier drawn scrutiny when another service member reportedly raised concerns about him as a potential “insider threat,” citing a tattoo on his bicep that has been linked to white supremacist symbolism. Hegseth has rejected the notion outright, dismissing claims of widespread extremism in the armed forces as exaggerated or fabricated.
Hegseth has repeatedly accused Pentagon leaders of going too far in their attempts to confront extremism within the ranks, blasting the department for initiatives aimed at identifying and removing service members labeled as white supremacists or violent extremists.
In his own writing, he has insisted the issue is “fake,” calling it a “manufactured" crisis built on what he described as a false narrative of racism in the armed forces. He has argued that these efforts have driven “patriotic rank-and-file troops” out of the military.
You can see the placard in the photo below.
@samstein/X
The viral photo comes as Hegseth faces heated criticism for justifying his attacks on alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean.
A recent Washington Post investigation alleged that in September, Hegseth directed a U.S. strike unit to eliminate everyone aboard a single vessel. According to the report, after two people were later spotted alive in the wreckage, commanders authorized a follow-up “double tap” strike to ensure their deaths.
The Trump administration has, of course, come to Hegseth's defense, saying Hegseth had personally approved the operation, empowering the Special Operations commander in charge to neutralize what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized as a threat to the United States. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have accused Hegseth of committing war crimes.
So the placard seems pretty fitting—and people couldn't help but mock Hegseth in response.
In a separate incident, Hegseth is accused of potentially exposing highly sensitive military details earlier this year after using the encrypted messaging app Signal to transmit operational strike information related to planned attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Four people familiar with a classified Inspector General review said the disclosure raised concerns that U.S. personnel and mission effectiveness could have been put at risk.
According to two of those sources, the fallout remains ambiguous because the Inspector General acknowledged that, as Defense Secretary, Hegseth holds the authority to declassify material. Hegseth maintained that he made a real-time operational judgment to share the information, though investigators found no written record documenting any formal declassification decision.
The Inspector General ultimately determined that the use of Signal for such communications was improper and recommended enhanced training for senior Pentagon officials on handling classified information, the sources said. Hegseth declined to be interviewed as part of the inquiry and instead submitted a written response recounting his version of events.
@thekalenallen/Threads
U.S. Mint
