Andrew Hugg, head of the Pentagon’s radiation and chemical security unit, has been suspended after the publication of a covert recording of his conversation with a journalist, according to several American media outlets. The video was released by investigative reporter James O’Keefe.
In the recording, Hugg, unaware of whom he was speaking to, makes a series of explosive remarks, including about Ukraine. He claims that Ukrainian authorities were siphoning off American aid. “They were stealing our money… buying themselves houses and cars worth several hundred thousand dollars,” he says, referring to the period when he worked with the Ukrainian side during Barack Obama’s administration.
According to him, he reported this to Washington, but, as Hugg claims, was told: “We don’t care about that. Don’t talk about it. We don’t want that in the newspapers.” He also said that the scale of the aid would make no difference: “Whether it’s $100 billion, $200 billion, they will steal all of it.”
Hugg claims that Ukraine’s leadership “do not care about the people”. “If they can enrich themselves and go live in Dubai—that is better for them. Yes, they do not care about the people. No, they simply do not care about the people at all,” he said.
He also gave an example which, he says, he knows about personally: ten Ukrainian officials allegedly pocketed $1 million each and spent the money on expensive cars. “When I was there, they stole $1 million in a single day… Each of those ten stole a million. And each bought a $100,000 car. Things like a BMW 7 Series, a Range Rover—all cars worth $100,000, bought with Obama’s money,” he said.
Other topics also come up in the conversation. Hugg claims that the United States still retains substances classified as chemical weapons, mentioning sarin: “We have it. Right here, in Maryland,” despite official statements that such stockpiles were fully destroyed.
Speaking about the situation around Iran, he suggested that Donald Trump could order the killing of the country’s new supreme leader. He also said that a US strike caused the deaths of Iranian schoolgirls on the first day of the war. “I am sure it was collateral damage, yes, absolutely. They always die in wars,” he said. When asked, “But we directly killed those children?” Hugg replied: “Not intentionally, but yes.”
At the same time, he stressed that the United States is “not currently planning to use nuclear weapons”.
Separately, Hugg described the procedure for transmitting an order to use nuclear weapons, saying that if communications were disrupted, the code could be delivered “by any means—even by a Girl Scout knocking on your door to sell you a box of cookies”. “If that box had the code written on it—even by hand, but correctly—that would be the signal to act. It is, of course, an extreme example, but we were told about it in training,” he said.
After the recording was published, the Pentagon said Hugg had been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. His remarks have not been officially commented on.