In their Signal chat, administration officials were reckless. This was a gross breach of security. Said John Bolton, who has had long experience in the national-security field,

It’s inconceivable that the White House would not use the classified channels that we have spent so much time and effort and money over decades trying to make as secure as possible. This carelessness puts American service members at risk.

I heard from a reader of ours, a friend of mine, who is an Army veteran and a Republican official (as it happens):

In the real world of intelligence, OPSEC is presented on the very first day of training, before the first smoke break. You sign in on a roster with name, rank, and serial number, and they tell you it will be kept on file for evidence at your court martial should you commit a violation.

It was Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, who was inadvertently included in the officials’ chat. He is not a Republican. Question: If the Trump team had inadvertently included a Republican journalist — pick any of them — would we know about this matter at all? Should we know about it?

In any event, we do know about it.

Much worse than the breach of security, I think, has been the officials’ behavior in the aftermath: a refusal to take responsibility; a passing of the buck; a want of public-mindedness.

“It’s not the crime,” goes a cliché, “it’s the cover-up.”

In my view, the president should have expressed indignation. He should have made a national apology. He should have promised consequences and reform.

We have had none of that, from any of them.

The national security adviser, Mike Waltz, points his finger at Goldberg. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, does the same. “Deceitful and highly discredited,” he says. He also says, of course, “hoax.”

That’s a TrumpWorld move: to say “hoax.” A column by Nick Catoggio had an apt title: “The ‘Hoax’ Hoax.”

For many years, I have had several prayers, or several wishes, for our country, and the Right in particular. One is that we recover a proper sense of patriotism. Another is that we recover a proper sense of manliness.

It is a conceit of the Trump movement that they are manly men, while the rest of us are . . . girly. But repeatedly, I am struck by the unmanliness of the Trump crowd, as seen in the aftermath of this security breach.

I want to say, “Own up. Man up. For heaven’s sake.”

It is not unmanly to apologize. It is not a sign of weakness. In fact, when the circumstances require it, apologizing can be the manliest and strongest thing you can do.

You recall that the previous secretary of defense, General Lloyd Austin, was hospitalized without informing people adequately in advance. He said,

I want to be crystal clear. We did not handle this right. And I did not handle this right. I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public, and I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and to the American people.

Manliness is more than braying on television, thumping your chest, or doing pushups. In fact, it’s not those things at all. I think back to two Republican leaders of the past: Bob Dole and John McCain. Neither could do a pushup. One had been shot up in Italy and the other had been tortured in the “Hanoi Hilton.” Each of them was a very ambitious pol. Neither of them was an angel. But there was an integrity about them, a sense of honor.

Does it seem to you that honor is caput in our country? It does to me, sometimes.

We are awash in tribalism: red jerseys and blue jerseys. If there are standards, they are double standards. Yet some Americans manage to rise above tribalism and hypocrisy, and I salute them all. The world hath need of you.