Welcome to The Hill's Defense & NatSec newsletter{beacon} Defense &National Security Defense &National Security   The Big Story  Trump nominee says he would have stopped Signal breachPresident Trump’s nominee to be the U.S. military’s highest-ranking o fficer said he would have stopped a Signal chat among senior officials last month had he been in the group.© The Hill, Greg Nash Retired Lt. Gen. Daniel “Razin” Caine, the nominee for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, largely side-stepped questions from Senate Armed Services Committee Democrats about his views on the Signal chat controversy.  But he did allow that officials should always protect the “element of surprise,” a nod toward concerns that Trump officials breached security protocols in the scandal.  Under questioning from several panel Democrats, Caine was repeatedly asked about how he would have responded to the leak, which happened after national security adviser Michael Waltz accidentally invited a journalist to a Signal chat group.  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth then shared sensitive information with the group about upcoming U.S. airstrikes against Houthi militants in Yemen.   “Knowing what you do, about the substance of that conversation, how would you feel?” Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) asked Caine.  Caine replied that “we all can agree that we need to always protect the element of surprise,” later saying, “that’s a key and essential thing that we owe our war-fighters.”  And when Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) asked what Caine would do if he saw classified information, war plans or tactical information on an unclassified chain of communication, he said he would “weigh in and stop it if I was a part of it.”  Caine’s hearing comes after Trump blindsided the Pentagon in February by firing seven top officials, including then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown.  Critics of the move worry that in nominating Caine, whom Trump has extolled as a loyalist, the president was seeking to fill top Defense leadership positions with those that wouldn’t dissent from his opinion, slanting the historically apolitical U.S. military in his favor. But Caine vowed to serve apolitically, saying that he would not become a “yes man” for Trump if confirmed and pledged to follow U.S. laws and the Constitution. He also said he was willing to be fired and would push back if Trump asked him to carry out illegal orders.  Read the full report at TheHill.com.  Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I'm Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.   Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.   Essential Reads  How policy will affect defense and national security now and inthe future: Trump’s joint chiefs nominee says he never wore a MAGA hatRetired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, President Trump’s pick to lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff, insisted during a Tuesday confirmation hearing that he never donned a red MAGA hat, contrary to reports on Trump’s version of their 2018 meeting in Iraq. “For 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of office and the responsibilities of my commission,” Caine said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing …  Full Story   Fourth missing US soldier in Lithuania found deadA fourth American soldier who went missing after their vehicle became submerged in a bog during training in the country was found dead Tuesday, the White House announced.   “Tragically, three soldiers were found deceased in Lithuania yesterday, and it pains me to confirm that today the fourth soldier was also found deceased,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during the daily briefing.  She …  Full Story   Pentagon offering new round of voluntary resignations, retirementsThe Defense Department plans to offer a new round of voluntary resignations and early retirements to the civilian workforce, but how it will go about this is unclear. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a new memo that orders the Defense Department’s top personnel official to “immediately” offer retirement to all eligible civilian employees and open a deferred resignation program, DefenseScoop first reported.  …  Full Story   On Our Radar  Upcoming things we're watching on our beat:  Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Brussels, Belgium tomorrow to attend the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) will hold his first shadow hearing to examine the Trump administration’s mass firing of federal employees and its impacts on veterans, tomorrow at 3 p.m.  In Other News  Branch out with a different read from The Hill: House Democrat: Trump team has ‘done nothing’ to ensure Signal leak won’t be repeated Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) slammed the Trump administration over its response to the fallout from high-level officials’ use of the Signal app to discuss military plans, saying the White House has “done nothing” to prevent a repeat mistake. “They’ve done nothing to show the American public and most importantly, our troops and intelligence professionals who risk their lives every day,” Moulton, a Marine … Full Story   On Tap Tomorrow  Events in and around the defense world:  The Atlantic Council will hold a talk on “Trump 2.0 and the Middle East: Adapting to a shifting political landscape,” at 9 a.m. Georgetown University will have a conversation on “U.S. and Global Military Engagement with the Arab World,” at 12:30 p.m. The Center for Strategic and International Studies will discuss “The Future of U.S.-Japan-ROK Trilateral Cooperation,” at 1:30 p.m. A House Armed Services subcommittee will hear from defense officials on “Small UAS and Counter-Small UAS: Gaps, Requirements, and Projected Capabilities,” at 3:30 p.m. Jews United for Democracy will host a talk on “Statecraft: Donald Trump and the Prospects for the Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy in 2025,” at 8 p.m.  What We're Reading  News we've flagged from other outlets: Putin keeps pushing, with Trump and on the battlefield (The New York Times) Senator vows to hold all VA nominees over planned staff cuts (Military Times) Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim they shot down another American drone as US strikes pound country (The Associated Press) Trending Today  Two key stories on The Hill right now: House cancels rest of votes for week after GOP floor rebellion House Republican leaders on Tuesday canceled votes for the rest of the week after a band of GOP lawmakers staged a rebellion on the floor, bringing … Read more Live results: Wisconsin Supreme Court race Wisconsin voters are heading to the polls Tuesday to determine the partisan tilt of their state’s top court in what is shaping up to be one of … Read more  Opinions in The Hill Op-eds related to defense & national security submitted to The Hill: From Hillary to Hegseth, our politicians are a national security problemNo more delays: The REAL ID deadline must stick   Signalgate exposed more than war plans: It pulled back the curtain on the administration   You're all caught up. 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