Why did Pete Hegseth act without asking Trump first?

In the Trump administration, especially in the Trump administration, surely nothing is done without the president's prior knowledge and say-so? But apparently Pete Hegseth, his often-embattled ex-Fox News defence secretary, went ahead with a decision that was hugely political, and didn't inform the White House. Trump had to admit he knew nothing about it. Extraordinary. The decision was about suspending deliveries of Patriot missiles and other vital weapons to Kyiv to give the Pentagon a chance to do an inventory of arms left in US storage for the US's own use. While that might seem to be practical and sensible, it was, of course, no such thing because suspending arms to Ukraine can have a catastrophic impact in the war-ravaged country and sends all the wrong signals both to Kyiv and to every western ally supporting the Kyiv government against the Russian invaders. In other words, arms to Ukraine is a US administration policy. It's a projection of US power against Moscow. It's a political and diplomatic statement. It's everything. Stopping the arms flow to allow the Pentagon to count their own weapons is like stopping direct debits at your bank because you are not sure you have enough money coming in each month. How could Hegseth have thought he could authorise this Patriot-missile suspension without talking to the White House first, especially at a time when Putin is bombarding Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones on a scale never seen before since the invasion began on February 24, 2022? As soon as Trump realised what had happened he reversed the decision and told Zelensky the next batch of Patriots were on their way. Meanwhile, therre IS a shortage of weaponns in the Pentagon's stocks, especially Patriot missile interceptors, but it's their job to up production on a huge scale. Every country wants Patriots. Hegseth must be treading on such thin ice it's like he better learn to swim.