Let’s get something straight: everybody screws up. Even the best. Especially the best. But what separates the mediocre from the legends is how you handle the fallout when your fingerprints are all over a live grenade that just went off in the war room.

Case in point: National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and the absolute circus act that was the Signal chat leak about a military op in Yemen.

You’d think someone with “national security” in their job title would treat comms about kinetic operations like nuclear football—not like a group text inviting buddies to Vegas. But no. Waltz fat-fingered a Signal chat and added The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a war-planning thread like he was looping in his Uber driver.

Now here’s where it gets worse: Instead of owning it like a professional, Waltz danced around it. “We’re looking into how that happened,” he said, as if a magical cyber-ghost clicked “Add Contact.”

Let me put it bluntly: you did it, Mike. Your mistake. Just say it, take the hit, and move the hell on.

Because that’s what real leaders do.

And at SOFREP we always call it as we see at, regardless of politics or popularity.

Are the mainstream media dogs piling on this? Yes, and this is what happens when you just don’t own your fack up.

Great Leaders Eat Crow

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane. In 1961, JFK took full responsibility for the Bay of Pigs disaster—even though the CIA practically gift-wrapped that debacle. His approval ratings went up. Why? Because Americans respect accountability more than perfection.

Reagan, during Iran-Contra, stood at the podium and said, “Mistakes were made.” Vague? Sure. But at least he didn’t blame the janitor.

Even George W. Bush eventually admitted the federal response to Katrina was a mess. It took some time (and a few bad quotes—“Heckuva job, Brownie”), but he got there.

Waltz, meanwhile, is acting like he butt-dialed a war correspondent into a covert Pentagon chat and now wants to CSI the keyboard. That’s not leadership. That’s political cowardice.

When You’re in Charge, Everything Is Your Fault

In the SEAL Teams, it’s simple: if you’re in charge, the buck stops with you. You don’t get to cherry-pick credit and dodge responsibility. If a sniper misses, if a comms guy slips up the crypto, if someone misreads a map—it’s your fault.

Why? Because leadership is about trust. And if I can’t trust you to say “I screwed up,” I sure as hell can’t trust you to make decisions under fire.

Waltz isn’t a rookie. He’s a former Green Beret turned statesman. He should know this better than most. That he does know it—and is still dodging—sends a brutal message to his staff and to America’s enemies: “I’ll protect my own ego before I protect the mission.”

And in case you missed the delicious irony: the Signal chat was literally named “Houthi PC small group.” They were planning strikes in Yemen—real-time war planning—and Goldberg gets the digital equivalent of a front-row seat. That’s not just sloppy, it’s dangerous.

The Bigger Problem: Culture

The real issue here isn’t just a botched group chat. It’s the culture that develops when leaders refuse to own their mistakes and that’s what I was desperately hoping would change under the Trump administration.

Because when the top dog dodges blame, everyone underneath starts learning how to cover their ass instead of covering their six.

It breeds distrust, kills initiative, and erodes the kind of battlefield honesty that keeps people alive and missions on track.

Waltz had a chance to stand tall and say: “I made a mistake. I added the wrong person. It was my fault. It won’t happen again.”

Instead, we got: “We’re looking into it.”

That’s not leadership. That’s a bad signal—pun absolutely intended.

Welcome to the big leagues, Mike. Time to act like it.