The chief of radiation and chemical safety of the US Army, Andrew Hagg, was temporarily suspended from service after a video appeared online of his date with a girl who, unfortunately for him, turned out to be a journalist. In the recording, a senior military official reveals things the Pentagon prefers to keep to itself. “Kommersant” chose the most interesting of them: about the chemical weapons remaining in the United States, the death of civilians in Iran, corruption in Ukraine and more.
Video from the bar where Andrew Hugg met the girl he liked (her name is not disclosed), posted American investigative journalist James O’Keefe goes online. The video was filmed from different angles – from the girl’s phone or hidden camera and from someone who was apparently sitting at the next table.
Andrew Hagg heads the US Army’s radiation and chemical security service. After the video was released, his profiles on social networks were deleted, but the information remained in the cache that since August 2024 he has been working in the Department of the Army, the Pentagon division responsible for managing the US ground forces.
Telling his interlocutor about his work, he says that, among other things, he is involved in ensuring the safety of nuclear weapons. “I make sure that the people (who work with him— “Kommersant”) were reliable, so that there were no mentally unstable people among them, it is impossible for a psycho to gain access to such things,” he explains to the girl.
He clearly didn’t know that this was a journalist, but during the conversation he jokingly asked if she was from the secret services.
“You’re not a spy, are you? Your eyes hypnotized me so much… It’s like you’re a spy,” he tells the girl. “The easiest way to get intelligence… send a pretty girl to talk to a guy… I can’t resist your gaze.”
Unable to resist the girl, the high-ranking military man told her many things that the Pentagon does not publicly talk about. So, from his story it follows that the United States still has chemical weapons. The video talks about sarin, a nerve agent. The military man explains in detail to the girl the principle of operation of this substance, calling it a “chemical weapon,” and its consequences for humans. “Your lungs will stop working. Your heart will stop working. Nothing will work,” he says. And then he tells his interlocutor which American laboratory works with sarin. “We have it. Here in (state.— “Kommersant”) Maryland. He’s in Maryland,” says Andrew Hagg.
Apparently, we are talking about a military complex in Aberdeen, which includes a test site and laboratories. Previously, American chemical weapons were tested and stored there. In 2023, then US President Joe Biden announced the complete destruction of all his country’s stockpiles of chemical weapons. At the time the United States joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, the stocks of relevant substances in Pentagon warehouses were estimated at 31.5 thousand tons. Following Joe Biden’s statement, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons declared all declared stockpiles of chemical warfare agents in the world eliminated. But the US Army Medical Research Institute for Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) in Aberdeen continues to work and, for “defense purposes,” is studying ways to detect, treat and protect against nerve agents, including, according to Andrew Hagg’s revelations, sarin.
From his story it follows that recently one of the employees of this research center died as a result of negligence in the use of toxic substances.
“The chemist who worked in the laboratory… She had to work in a hazmat suit, but she said she didn’t like it and wore Crocs and her own clothes,” says the man. “He (sarin.— “Kommersant”) soaked her clothes and got on her skin. She could start touching things, and if someone else touched them… then those people would die too.”
The journalist asked the officer about the US war against Iran. Among other things, she wonders whether the US will “continue to assassinate Iranian leaders.” “He (Trump.— “Kommersant”) can kill the next guy, him (Ali Khamenei.— “Kommersant”) son. If he (Mojtaba Khamenei.— “Kommersant”) will not change his behavior, they will kill him,” Andrew Hagg answers her. “We will launch missiles and destroy something there.” But if we want to “win” (he shows quotation marks with a gesture.— “Kommersant”), if we want the country to do what we want, we need to put people there.”
When asked if the US really killed children in Iran, Andrew Hagg answers in the affirmative: “I’m sure there was collateral damage, yes, absolutely. They (children.— “Kommersant”) always die in wars.” The journalist asks again: “But we directly killed these children?” “Not on purpose, but yes,” her interlocutor nods.
Let us recall that on the first day of the current US and Israeli operation against Iran, a missile hit a primary school in the Iranian Minab, which led to the death of about 170 civilians, mostly children. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly assured that it was not an American missile. The Pentagon promised to investigate the incident. American media, citing sources in government agencies, report that, according to preliminary conclusions, the school was struck by the United States as part of a series of attacks on nearby Iranian military targets.
When asked by a journalist whether the United States is going to use nuclear weapons against Iran, Andrew Hagg answers negatively: “We currently do not plan to use nuclear weapons against anyone.”
At the same time, he lists to his interlocutor four places where intercontinental ballistic missiles are deployed on US territory. When the video was published, the names of the respective bases were cut out, as it was said, “in order to reduce risks to national security,” although this information is generally known. But it is interesting what Andrew Hagg says about how specialists working with nuclear weapons are trained. In a war, he said, if communications are disrupted, the code to activate a nuclear weapon could be passed on “by anyone, even by a Girl Scout knocking on your door to sell you a box of cookies.” “If there is a code written on this box – even by hand, but correct, this is a signal to action. This, of course, is an extreme example, but we were told about it during training,” he says.
Part of Andrew Hagg’s conversation with the journalist is devoted to Ukraine. According to the man, he “lived in Ukraine and worked with the Ukrainian authorities.” “Their government is so corrupt. They (Ukrainian officials.— “Kommersant”) stole our money. I worked there under the administration (of US President Barack.— “Kommersant”) Obama with the funds of our taxpayers, which he sent there. They simply stole them and bought themselves houses and cars for several hundred thousand dollars,” he says frankly. According to him, “if it is $100 billion, $200 billion, they (Ukrainian politicians or officials.— “Kommersant”) will steal everything.” “If they can get rich and leave the country and live in Dubai, that’s the best for them. They don’t care what happens to people, it doesn’t matter at all,” he asserts. The journalist asks if he reported to Washington about what was happening in Kyiv. “I reported it… and guess what the White House responded? “We don’t care about it. Don’t talk about it. We don’t want it in the papers because it will be bad for Obama’s image.”
At the end of the evening, the man, apparently, still understands that something is wrong, so he decides to watch the girl at the exit from the restroom, where, with alarm in his voice, he asks her twice if she is a spy.
“We have placed Mr. Hagg on administrative leave pending a thorough investigation of this incident,” U.S. Army spokeswoman Cynthia O’Smith told reporters after the video was released. The Pentagon refused to comment on the content of the revelations of the head of radiation and chemical security.
