国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯(Pete Hegseth)表示，五角大楼将审查马克·凯利参议员是否不当披露了机密信息，当时这位亚利桑那州民主党人和退役海军上校对两伊战争给美国武器库存带来的压力表示担忧。
海格塞斯，在一个社交媒体帖子周日晚上，在参议员出现在哥伦比亚广播公司的“面对国家”节目中并讨论五角大楼弹药库存的压力后，抨击凯利“在电视上胡说八道”。
“‘马克·凯利船长’又出击了，”海格塞斯发帖说。“现在他在电视上胡说八道(虚假&关于他收到的一份机密的五角大楼简报。他违背誓言了吗...又来了?@DeptofWar法律顾问会审核。"
在哥伦比亚广播公司的采访中，凯利提到最近五角大楼向国会公开的简报，他说，简报概述了美国关键弹药的库存，包括战斧和ATACMS导弹，正在伊朗战争中迅速耗尽。
五角大楼对凯利的评论进行审查将标志着黑格斯第二次试图惩罚他，第一次是在凯利和其他几名民主党军事和情报服务老兵之后发布了一个视频建议美国军队不要执行非法命令。海格塞斯试图降职凯利这将减少他的军人退休金。
美国上诉法院的三名法官组成的小组对海格塞思在上周口头辩论中惩罚凯利的努力表示怀疑。
五角大楼表示，在与伊朗的战争中，他们击中了大约13000个目标。报告称，在某些情况下，这些目标可能需要多次达到。五角大楼代理审计长朱尔斯·赫斯特三世(Jules Hurst III)在4月下旬告诉立法者，到那时为止，这场战争已经花费了至少250亿美元，并指出其中大部分用于弹药。
“我们对这些杂志的深入程度令人震惊，”凯利说。
在海格塞斯的威胁下，凯利在社交媒体上回应，展示了上周参议院军事委员会听证会的一个片段，其中Hegseth表示，将库存补充到战前水平需要数年时间。
凯利说:“一周前，我们在一次公开听证会上进行了这样的对话，你说需要‘数年’才能补充这些库存。”。"那不是机密，那是你的一句话."
分析来自战略与国际研究中心的研究发现，美国已经使用了一半的库存弹药来对抗伊朗，可能需要长达四年的时间来重新武装战前的库存。
五角大楼闭门向国会议员介绍机密材料，但不清楚凯利是否违反了任何披露法律，因为他没有在哥伦比亚广播公司的采访中详细说明使用或剩余的武器数量。
赫格塞斯坚持认为，美国有足够的弹药来维持对伊朗的战斗，尽管国防圈内部的大部分焦虑不是集中在德黑兰，而是集中在五角大楼应对另一场重大冲突的能力上。
“这意味着美国人民更不安全。无论是与中国还是世界其他地方的冲突，弹药都会耗尽，”凯利在哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)上说。
五角大楼已经在努力应对对其武器库存和工业补充弹药的速度越来越多的担忧，与伊朗的战争大大加剧了这些担忧。
这些担忧出现之际，五角大楼正在推动明年1.5万亿美元的历史性国防预算，比目前的支出水平增加约50%，其中很大一部分将用于军火生产和更便宜的大规模生产无人机系统。但支出计划基本上是在战争开始前敲定的，并没有完全考虑到战争给美国库存带来的压力。
Hegseth again looks to punish Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly over military comments
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon will review whether Sen. Mark Kelly improperly disclosed classified information when the Arizona Democrat and retired Navy captain raised concerns about the strain the war with Iran has placed on U.S. weapons stockpiles.
Hegseth, in asocial media postSunday evening, blasted Kelly for "blabbing on TV" after the senator appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" that morning and discussed strains on the Pentagon's ammunition inventory.
"'Captain' Mark Kelly strikes again," Hegseth posted. "Now he's blabbing on TV (falsely&dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath ... again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review."
During the CBS interview, Kelly pointed to recent open-door Pentagon briefings to Congress, which he says outlined that U.S. stockpiles of key munitions, including Tomahawk and ATACMS missiles, are being rapidly depleted amid the war with Iran.
A Pentagon review of Kelly's comments would mark the second time Hegseth has sought to punish him, the first being after Kelly and several other Democratic military and intelligence service veteransposted a videoadvising U.S. troops to not follow illegal orders. Hegsethsought to demote Kelly, which would reduce his military pension.
A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals expressed skepticism over Hegseth’s effort to punish Kelly over the comments during oral arguments last week.
The Pentagon says it has hit some 13,000 targets in the war with Iran. In some cases, those targets may need to be hit several times, it said. Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III told lawmakers in late April that the war had cost at least $25 billion to that point, noting that much of that was for munitions use.
"It's shocking how deep we've gone into these magazines," Kelly said.
Following Hegseth's threat, Kellyresponded on social media, showing a clip from last week's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in which Hegseth is shown saying it would take years to replenish stockpiles to pre-war levels.
"We had this conversation in a public hearing a week ago and you said it would take 'years' to replenish some of these stockpiles," Kelly said. "That's not classified, it's a quote from you."
An analysisfrom the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the U.S. has used half of its inventory of munitions fighting Iran, and that it could take up to four years for the pre-war stock to be rearmed.
The Pentagon briefs members of Congress on classified materials behind closed doors, but it's unclear whether Kelly violated any disclosure laws, as he did not get into specifics on the volume of weapons used or remaining in the CBS interview.
Hegseth has insisted the U.S. has sufficient ammunition to sustain fighting against Iran, though much of the anxiety inside defense circles is centered less on Tehran and more on the Pentagon's ability to respond to another major conflict.
"That means the American people are less safe. Whether it's a conflict with China or somewhere else in the world, the munitions are depleted," Kelly said on CBS.
The Pentagon had already been grappling with mounting concerns over its weapon stockpiles and how quickly industry can replenish munitions, with the war with Iran dramatically exacerbating those concerns.
Those concerns come as the Pentagon pushes for a historic $1.5 trillion defense budget next year, roughly a 50% increase over current spending levels, with a significant share earmarked for munitions production and cheaper, mass-produced drone systems. But the spending plan was largely finalized before the war started and does not fully account for the strain the war is placing on U.S. inventories.
