More from the article...

... Why it matters: Hegseth's comments, followed Wednesday by President Trump's initiation of direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, drew fierce criticism from NATO allies and even some Republicans.

- - - "I don't know who wrote the speech -- it is the kind of thing Tucker Carlson could have written, and Carlson is a fool," Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chair of the Armed Services Committee, told Politico.

- - - Wicker, speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, suggested that Hegseth had made a "rookie mistake" and "walked back some of what he said" on Thursday. ...

@32 ... anyone who thought that was gonna end with putin giving stuff back is a moron/ ...

If that is the case, why allow, even encourage, Pres Putin to take even more of Ulraine in the future?

@#5 ... Hegseth has walked all of this back. ...

Too late for that.

Sec Hegseth said it, and Pres Putin heard Pres Trump giving up before the negotiations have even begun.

This is what happens when you have an amateur running the DoD.