SINCE SIGNAL SCANDAL
W.G. DUNLOP
Mon, April 28, 2025
MQ-9 Reaper drones cost around $30 million apiece (Isaac Brekken)Isaac Brekken/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/Getty Images via AFP
The United States has lost seven multi-million-dollar MQ-9 Reaper drones in the Yemen area since March 15, a US official said Monday, as the Navy announced a costly warplane fell off an aircraft carrier into the Red Sea.
Washington launched the latest round of its air campaign against Yemen's Huthis in mid-March, and MQ-9s can be used for both reconnaissance -- a key aspect of US efforts to identify and target weaponry the rebels are using to attack shipping in the region -- as well as strikes.
"There have been seven MQ-9s that have gone down since March 15," the US official said on condition of anonymity, without specifying what caused the loss of the drones, which cost around $30 million apiece.
The US Navy meanwhile announced the loss of another piece of expensive military equipment: an F/A-18E warplane that fell off the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in an accident that injured one sailor.
A tractor that was towing the F/A-18E -- a type of aircraft that cost more than $67 million in 2021 -- also slipped off the ship into the sea.
"The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard," the Navy said in a statement.
The carrier and its other planes remain in action and the incident is under investigation, the Navy added. No details of recovery work were released.
- Weeks of heavy strikes -
It is the second F/A-18 operating off the Truman to be lost in less than six months, after another was mistakenly shot down by the USS Gettysburg guided missile cruiser late last year in an incident that both pilots survived.
The Truman is one of two US aircraft carriers operating in the Middle East, where US forces have been striking the Huthis on a near-daily basis.
The military's Central Command said Sunday that US forces have struck more than 800 targets and killed hundreds of Huthi fighters, including members of the group's leadership, as part of the operation.
Huthi-controlled media in Yemen said Monday that US strikes hit a migrant detention center in the movement's stronghold of the capital Saada, killing at least 68 people.
Then early Tuesday, rebel channel Al-Masirah reported two strikes on Bani Hashish, northeast of the capital, citing the local governorate.
The Iran-backed Huthis began targeting shipping in late 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, which has been devastated by Israel's military after a shock Hamas attack in October of that year.
Huthi attacks have prevented ships from passing through the Suez Canal -- a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of the world's shipping traffic.
The United States first began conducting strikes against the Huthis under the Biden administration, and President Donald Trump has vowed that military action against the rebels will continue until they are no longer a threat to shipping.
wd/mlm/md
Hegseth Has Another Blonde Fox Producer Aide—Who’s on Signal
Josh Fiallo
Wed, April 30, 2025
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/DOD
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s affinity for Signal group chats with former Fox News producers is worse than we thought.
Hegseth, who faced calls to resign after a report revealed he texted military strike details in a Signal chat that included his former Fox News producer wife, Jennifer Rauchet, was accused Wednesday of having a third chat on the app that included his spouse.
Sources told The Washington Post that the latest chat also included Hegseth’s senior adviser and spokesman, Sean Parnell, as well as Tami Radabaugh, a former Fox News producer who is a close friend of Rauchet’s.
What was discussed in the third chat is unknown, the Post reported, and it is not clear if that chat remains active or not. Still, the inclusion of Radabaugh is likely to raise eyebrows at the Pentagon, which has warned Signal is susceptible to hacking and should not be used outright, even to discuss matters that are not classified.
Tami Radabaugh, 51, is a former Fox News producer who worked with Pete Hegseth and his wife at the network. / Department of Defense
Radabaugh, 51, is a mother of two who was sworn in as Hegseth’s deputy assistant for public affairs on day one of MAGA 2.0. She remained largely out of view amid Hegseth’s initial string of Signal missteps. Still, her name appeared in reports last week as the adviser who suggested that Hegseth retrofit a room in the Pentagon into a makeup studio to help prepare him for his television appearances.
A source told the Post that Rauchet has had an outsized influence in shaping her husband’s tenure as defense secretary, despite not having an official role at the DOD. That has reportedly included her weighing in on what media hits he should do. A source said her first directive came as early as his first day on the job—when she asked DOD staff to compile his initial remarks to reporters and share them on social.
“We would always hear that she was saying what kind of videos he should be doing, and what kind of statements he should be doing, and how the press should be handled,” a source at the DOD told the Post.
Tami Radabaugh (right) shared a photo last month of her hanging out with Jenny Hegseth (left), Pete Hegseth, and the Fox News personality Brian Kilmeade. / Tami Radabaugh/X
Radabaugh worked with Hegseth and his wife at Fox News. She was an executive producer for Fox & Friends from 2019 to 2023, overlapping with the time Hegseth was an on-air personality for the hit morning news show. Rauchet, 40, served as an executive producer for Fox & Friends from 2006 to 2017, then transitioned to executive producer of Watters World for a year, and then became vice president of Fox Nation.
A personal website for Radabaugh is full of photos of her and right-wing political figures. A gallery at its bottom includes her smiling next to Donald Trump in the Oval Office, a selfie with Hegseth and Rauchet, and another of her smiling next to Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw.
Tami Radabaugh participated in the Fab Over 40 competition and fundraiser. / Fab Over 40
The DOD official also participated in Fab Over 40, a competition and fundraising campaign that raises money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. She placed 26th in her group, according to her page. Her bio for the completion read, “God’s daughter who is blessed with a loving heart full of gratitude for my faith, family, fabulous career, fun travel, and fitness.”
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Radabaugh, who ran her own media company for a year and a half after leaving Fox, which she said on LinkedIn was “founded on faith,” was an avid MAGA poster after Donald Trump‘s victory last year. Her personal X account is filled with retweets from Elon Musk, Libs of TikTok, and other right-wing personalities.
A New York native, Radabaugh also posted videos in December from Queens amid hysteria over an increase in drone sightings there.
Radabaugh now posts more frequently on her official Department of Defense account, which included her retweeting a post Wednesday that claimed Hegseth has “received 100% NEGATIVE COVERAGE from the FAKE NEWS.”
Radabuagh did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
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