Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested Wednesday that the Pentagon has made military preparations for a “day after” in Iran. “Have you commissioned any ‘day-after’ planning? Any force protection, any use of ground troops in Iran, any cost assessments?” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) asked Hegseth during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who served three tours in Iraq, noted that the U.S. failure to plan adequately for the “day after” in its invasion of Iraq and intervention in Afghanistan has left many Americans “deeply concerned” about what would follow from a new American war in the Middle East. “Have you authorized day-after planning?” she asked Hegseth. “We have plans for everything,” he replied, without offering any further detail. More updates here: https://wapo.st/4kN7rI7